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EUGENE SCHUYLER 

SELECTED ESSAYS 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 



SELECTED ESSATS 



WITH A MEMOIR BY 
EVELYN SCHUYLER SCHAEFFER 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1901 



{Library of Cot 

Tw Copies 

B 7 1901 I 

_, Copyright entry 

SECOND COPY 



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I 



Copyright, 1901, by 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 






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TROW DIRECTORY 

PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY 

NEW YORK 






CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Eugene Schuyler i 

Count Leo Tolstoy Twenty Years Ago . . 205 
The Minnesota Heir of a Serbian King . . 301 

The Lost Plant 321 

Index 351 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

A MEMOIR 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

A MEMOIR 



It is almost as difficult to describe a man of 
magnetic personality as to paint the portrait of 
a face remembered rather by its changing ex- 
pression than by its features. To those who 
have known the man a hint may be enough; for 
the stranger he can hardly be made to live again, 
even with the help of his own letters. Yet 
one would like to preserve some record, however 
inadequate, of a most unusual character. 

Eugene Schuyler was born at Ithaca, New 
York, February 26, 1840. On his father's side 
his ancestry was altogether Dutch, unless one 
takes into account the one drop of French blood 
some six generations back; and it is perhaps 
the absence, unusual in America, of a mixture 
of nationalities, that has caused a persistence, 
from generation to generation, of certain qu3li- 

3 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

ties. In the seventeenth century Philip Pieterse 
van Schuyler was a man of prominence, especially 
distinguished for his services to the State in the 
negotiation of treaties with the Indians, and Tor 
his success in keeping up the subsequent friendly 
relations with those difficult allies. He treated 
the Indians with a wisdom which insured him 
their friendship during his life, and even per- 
petuated his memory to such an extent that 
many years after his death they presented to 
his youngest daughter two thousand acres of 
land " in remembrance of the kindness of her 
father and mother." That his descendants fol- 
lowed in his footsteps is abundantly shown by 
the colonial records. 

George Washington Schuyler, the father of 
Eugene Schuyler, was born at Stillwater-on-the- 
Hudson, February 2, 18 10, but spent his boy- 
hood as well as his later life in Ithaca, his 
father having removed there in 181 1. The fam- 
ily had become less prosperous than of old, and 
it was only by great determination and per- 
severance that he was able to get the educa- 
tion that he desired. He graduated at the Uni- 
versity of the City of New York, taking the 
Junior and Senior studies in one year, with He- 
brew in addition; at the same time supporting 

4 



A MEMOIR 

himself by acting as private tutor to two stu- 
dents. Even with the lower standards of those 
days this might be called a good year's work. 
He next studied theology, but for family reasons 
gave up his studies when near the end of the 
course, and entered upon mercantile life, where 
his abilities and sagacity would have yielded him 
a fortune had it not been for the never-ending 
demands upon his generosity. Naturally of a 
cheerful and genial disposition, very generous, 
unselfish and conscientious, and strongly relig- 
ious, the self-denials and repressions of his youth, 
and especially the rigorous and gloomy Calvin- 
istic form of religion in which he had been 
brought up, had their effect upon him in making 
him in early life too serious; only in his later years 
did he learn to sympathise with less strenuous 
views and habits of thought. 

Always public-spirited and ardent, his influ- 
ence soon extended beyond the confines of the 
village. Much as he loved the approval of his 
fellows, the unpopularity of a cause never de- 
terred him from embracing it. The Abolition 
movement found in him a warm supporter at a 
time when to support it meant not merely un- 
popularity, but some petty persecution. He not 
only became an agent of the famous " under- 

5 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

ground railway," but took negroes into his own 
employment whenever he could, and struggled 
valiantly to engraft upon the irresponsible negro 
temperament something of his own reliability — 
it must be confessed with not very flattering 
results. Later he was much in public life, serv- 
ing successively as Treasurer of the State of 
New York, Superintendent of the Banking De- 
partment, Member of the Assembly, and Audi- 
tor of the Canal Department, and was instru- 
mental in securing the adoption of several im- 
portant measures. His integrity was so unas- 
sailable that even in times of great excitement 
he escaped the personal attacks which usually 
seem to be an inseparable accompaniment of 
political prominence. A trustee of Cornell Uni- 
versity from its foundation, his judgment and re- 
source did much to tide it over its early financial 
difficulties and place it on a lasting foundation. 

The achievement of his life which probably 
gave him most pleasure was the preparation 
and publication of his book, " Colonial New 
York — Philip Schuyler and his Family," which 
he published when he was seventy-six years old, 
and which is accepted as an authority on the 
subjects of which it treats. 

He married, in April, 1839, Matilda Scribner, 
6 



A MEMOIR 

daughter of Uriah Rogers Scribner, one of the 
old merchants of New York, but of a New Eng- 
land family. Mrs. Schuyler was a woman of 
much beauty and of an individuality at once 
strong and delicate. Her extreme shyness and 
modest estimate of herself prevented her from 
being known outside of a small circle, but those 
who knew her intimately were aware that she 
possessed much insight, and a remarkable gift of 
terse expression; but she had a horror of unchar- 
itable comment, which she always repressed in 
her children; and such was her self-control that, 
during their childhood and youth, at least one 
of them can never remember having heard her 
speak severely of any one. Physically timid and 
subject to all the discomforts entailed by a highly 
strung nervous temperament, her moral courage 
was of the highest type. She lived eighty-nine 
years, and to the end of her life could adapt 
herself to new circumstances and assimilate new 
ideas. 

Like her husband, Mrs. Schuyler had been 
brought up in the strictest traditions of puri- 
tanism, and during the earlier years of their 
married life they were placed in an environ- 
ment which only strengthened the impressions 
already given. The village of Ithaca was sharply 

7 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

divided between the godly and the ungodly, the 
former being of the bluest dye of Calvinism. As 
time went on, religious beliefs were slowly 
softened, and in any case persons of the natural 
characteristics of Mr. and Mrs. Schuyler would 
necessarily have outgrown the severe creed of 
their youth. They both became in the highest 
degree tolerant and liberal, while never losing the 
peculiar conscientiousness which strongly charac- 
terised them both; though the manifestations were 
different. The descendant of Dutchmen bears 
his conscience with better cheer than the New 
Englander can ever learn to do. But this de- 
velopment came later. The world into which 
their children were born was a serious world. 

Eugene was a beautiful and clever child. To 
him, to learn was a delight. Mentally and phys- 
ically he was alert for new impressions. He 
loved flowers, animals, pictures, music, good 
things to eat, and made nice distinctions as to 
the relations between taste and smell. Certain 
flowers belonged on the dinner-table with cer- 
tain articles of food — for instance, sweet peas 
went with roast beef. Alphabet blocks taught 
him his letters before he could pronounce them, 
and he learned to read about the time he learned to 
talk. What a friend of later years called his esprit 

8 



A MEMOIR 

chercheur always impelled him not only to leave 
no question unsolved, but no sensation untried. 

As a boy he attended the old Ithaca Acad- 
emy, but did not confine himself to its rather 
limited curriculum. On spring and summer af- 
ternoons, after school, he went on botanical ex- 
peditions and became learned in the flora of 
the region, even to discovering species hitherto 
unknown in that locality; and a warm friend- 
ship sprang up between him and an eminent 
botanist in a neighbouring village. In short, his 
mind was open in all directions; but with an 
especial taste for literature and a very unusual 
gift for languages. At twelve years old he be- 
gan to take lessons on the piano, of a Scotch- 
woman who was a character in the town; an 
eccentric person, not without genius, a warm 
friend and an equally warm enemy; with a keen 
sense of beauty and an admiration of clever- 
ness. A pagan herself, she did not escape her 
Calvinistic inheritance, and was of a severe turn 
of mind in the matter of religion, being fiercely 
intolerant of the intolerant Orthodox. Her 
commanding height and generous amplitude, 
with her taste for striking and bizarre costumes, 
made her a figure to be remembered. She took 
her bright pupil in great affection, and the 

9 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

middle-aged woman and the clever boy of 
twelve conversed on terms of intellectual equal- 
ity; and for many years — as long as she remained 
in Ithaca — he was in the habit of going to see 
her during his visits there. As to the piano, he 
learned in two years all that she could teach 
him, and to the end of his life played much — 
with no great technical skill, but with much 
musical feeling. His unusual facility in playing 
at sight was always a source of pleasure to him- 
self and others. 

As a playmate he was considered desirable, by 
the girls as much as by the boys. Whatever 
the game, he put into it something new and 
original that at once made it different from all 
other games. I was but seldom admitted to 
the amusements of my elders, but sometimes it 
was desirable to swell the number, and then I 
came in as a great treat. In one game, where 
the person pointed at by the one who was " It " 
had to drop down dead, I was nearly fright- 
ened out of my wits, and on seeing this, Eugene 
confessed to me, small as I was, that he too felt 
very creepy, and was going to give up that 
game. He was always fond of children and 
ready to take trouble for them. I was once shut 
out of the play-room for days that seemed like 

10 



A MEMOIR 

centuries, and then admitted and presented with 
a beautiful doll's house which he had made in a 
low chimney cupboard. He had made every- 
thing with his own hands, even to the chande- 
liers of steel beads strung on wires, with candles 
made of wax matches, with the inflammable ends 
burned off to make them look more natural. 
During one of his college vacations he happened 
to come into the room where I was playing with 
paper dolls, and was struck with the ugly colours 
of the frocks which they had brought with them 
from the shop. With him, to see a thing wrong 
was to want to set it right, from paper dolls to 
the Sublime Porte, and he at once sat down 
with my paint-box and made such beautiful 
paper dolls' dresses that they were treasured until 
they fell apart with much handling. 

At fourteen he was prepared to enter Yale 
College, but his youth, and especially his youth- 
ful appearance, made his parents hesitate about 
sending him away from home, and it was de- 
cided to delay for a year. His constitution was 
somewhat delicate and extremely susceptible. 
At that time the importance of physical culture 
was not recognised as it is now. Nature, if let 
alone, is apt to look out for a growing boy, and, 
by merely following his natural bent, the average 

ii 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

boy becomes hardy, in case he does not break his 
neck or drown himself by the way. But the 
anxious mother of her first boy was only too 
thankful that his tastes did not lead him in the 
direction of hair-breadth escapes. His boyish 
longings of that sort were the more easily 
checked since he had so many other resources, 
and if a dangerous amusement were forbidden 
he could usually turn with interest to a safe one; 
so that he never gained the physical hardening 
which most boys get — a lack which he deplored 
all his life. Learning to swim could not be 
helped if a boy were a boy at all, and a certain 
amount of other sports, but it was always the 
minimum amount. 

At fifteen he was only a rosy-cheeked little 
boy, and left off his boyish " roundabout " and 
put on his first " tail-coat " the day before he 
started for college. He had still been attending 
the Academy, and it was felt by the trustees 
that he had conferred such lustre on that insti- 
tution that when he left they sent him three 
large volumes of " Selections from the British 
Poets," with a complimentary letter. The crit- 
ical instinct was ever strong in him and struggled 
with his natural gratification; and from his New 
England ancestors he inherited an almost irre- 

12 



A MEMOIR 

pressible instinct to speak what he thought. He 
expressed his gratitude properly, however, and 
perhaps it was only the sympathetic little sister, 
hardly old enough to know what " British Poets " 
meant, who quite understood that while in one 
way Eugene was delighted, yet one poet's com- 
plete works were rather nicer to have than an- 
other man's selections from all of them. He 
loved books. Children did not have much 
spending money then, but one of his earliest 
purchases and the very first book he ever bought 
was " Lalla Rookh," a welcome change from the 
serious volumes of his father's library. 

The impression made on him by the stern 
religious beliefs in which he had been brought 
up was not apparent; but on the one hand they 
drove him in the direction of negation, and on 
the other they added to the enjoyment of his 
later life by the piquancy of the contrast. He 
seemed an incarnate reaction from the whole 
system — as if he represented those tastes and 
impulses which the hardships of life and the 
severities of religion had compelled his parents 
to extinguish for a time in themselves. He 
was affectionate and extraordinarily loyal. With 
him a friendship once formed was enduring, and 
survived disillusionment. Equally strong was his 

13 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

feeling for the tie of blood; and he retained 
his interest in his own kin, even through the 
gradations of diminishing relationship. The live- 
liness of his interest and his power of placing 
himself in imaginary situations, of which he ar- 
ranged even the smallest details, often made him 
feel a strong desire to arrange matters for his 
friends; but while he had a somewhat authori- 
tative way of advising, his sense of humour kept 
him from expecting his advice to be taken. On 
the other hand his remarkable magnetism gave 
him a certain compelling power, and the people 
about him were very apt to do as he wished. 

The interest which he so freely gave to others 
he liked to receive in return. He wanted sym- 
pathy — he liked to expand — he could not exist 
without telling someone what he was doing and 
thinking and reading; and it was not difficult 
for him to get the sympathy he wanted, since 
he always made himself interesting. A friend 
once said of him, " If Schuyler is taken up with 
dry bones, you become intensely interested in 
dry bones yourself, and are ready to believe that 
you have cared for nothing else all your life." 

With all these captivating ways he was sub- 
ject to gusts of irritation, generally unreason- 
able and harmless, and frequently laughable in 

14 



A MEMOIR 

their half-comic whimsicality. Where he did 
himself a more serious injustice was in an occa- 
sional coldness of manner which was at times 
even repellent. Sometimes this was caused by 
a shyness which but few people suspected — the 
less since it was of the intermittent variety — 
sometimes, it may have been, by a mood of dis- 
content or depression, or even by the simple 
fact that he was bored. His temperament in- 
clined him to a sudden loss of self-control which 
surprised and vexed no one more than himself. 

In college he did not work for honours, but 
rather from simple interest and pleasure in learn- 
ing. Some honours came, however. In his jun- 
ior year he took a Clark premium for excel- 
lence in Latin, and in his senior year a Berkeley 
premium for Latin composition. At graduation 
he stood fifth in a class of 105, and had the rank 
of Philosophical Oration, taking also the Berke- 
ley and Clark Scholarships. 

His classmate and friend, Professor Arthur W. 
Wright, of Yale University, has written of his col- 
lege life: 

" Schuyler was the youngest member of the 
class of 1859, and when he first appeared at 
Yale he seemed to have but just emerged from 
childhood. Even then, however, he possessed 

15 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

a strong personality, and it was not long before 
he gave evidence of powers of acquisition and a 
critical faculty which, before the close of the 
four years, placed him in the foremost rank 
among the scholars of the class. He had a nat- 
ural aptitude, as well as a taste, for exact schol- 
arship and wide culture. It was evident that he 
was destined to take a high place as a scholar, 
and his later successes were no surprise to those 
who had known him well while here. 

" In his personal character perhaps the most 
prominent trait was a refinement and elevation 
of sentiment, which showed itself not only in 
his intellectual activities, but even in his bear- 
ing, his manner, and his dress. With this, a 
certain reserve, a strong individuality, independ- 
ence of opinion, and the highly intellectual and 
scholarly tone of his conversation raised him 
decidedly above the ordinary and the common- 
place, and gave an air of aristocratic distinction 
to everything he did. While this made him 
appear sometimes as if lacking in warmth of 
disposition, those whom he honoured with his 
confidence and intimacy were often surprised by 
an almost child-like expression of friendliness 
and affection, which revealed the capability of 
deeper feeling beneath the veil of his reserve. I 
have always felt that his was a rare personality, 
and that his early departure was a great loss, 
great to the world of scholarship, and especially so 
to those who had learned to know and admire him." 

16 



A MEMOIR 



II 



After his graduation, in 1859, he remained in 
New Haven for two years, pursuing his studies, 
and was the first to receive the degree of Doctor 
of Philosophy there in 1861. During this time 
he wrote a long and elaborate review of Wedg- 
wood's " English Etymology," and was gratified 
and amused at receiving from Professor Wedg- 
wood a letter discussing certain points, and 
assuming that the youthful (and severe) critic 
was a venerable professor. He had also begun 
working on the revision of Webster's " Diction- 
ary," which appeared in July, 1864 — his particular 
duty being the revision of Dr. Mahn's etymolog- 
ical contributions. 

He studied law at Columbia College (LL.B. in 
1863), n °t because the profession especially at- 
tracted him, but rather because he had not as 
yet found anything that seemed to him more 
desirable. In December, 1862, he wrote to a 
friend : 

" I like the law much better than I did at first. 
One reason is that I know more about it, and 
another that I am so constantly occupied with it 
that I can't help getting interested in it. . . . 
Somehow or other, writing essays and reviews 

Vol. I.— 2 17 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

is just now a mania with me, and I sketch out 
plenty of them in my head, none of which I 
shall ever finish, such is my accustomed procras- 
tination." 

Some months later he wrote to the same per- 
son: 

" I understand that Mr. is astonished at 

my eagerness to see sights. I do not think that 
I have anything more than a laudable curiosity. 
I seldom go out of my way to see anything, but 
if anything comes along I consider it a duty 
which I owe to my general education, as well as 
a reasonable source of pleasure to know what is 
to be known." 

After graduating he went for a time into the 
office of Messrs. Weeks, De Forest & Forster, 
and afterwards into that of Messrs. Lewis & Cox. 
Later he opened an office with Mr. James Bruyn 
Andrews. During these years he was writing 
for the Round Table and the New Path, besides 
occasional contributions to the New Englander, 
the North American Review, and other periodicals, 
and was a contributor to the Nation from the 
time of its first appearance to the end of his 
life. 

His summer vacations were spent in Ithaca, 

where his arrival was the signal for a series of 

18 



A MEMOIR 

festivities. Those at his father's house were al- 
ways arranged by him, and were distinguished 
by some novelty; it might be a morning dance 
and luncheon (an unheard-of thing at that time), 
or it might be a supper with an odd menu — 
whatever it was, it brought variety into the small 
circle whose interest had become somewhat 
jaded. 

In the summer of 1864 he had had a flattering 
request from Professor Norton (at that time 
editor of the North American Review), for a forty- 
page article, to which he expected to devote the 
vacation. Accordingly, having told me, a girl 
in my teens, that I was to write stories and be- 
come in time a distinguished author, he took 
me with him every morning into the large, cool 
dining-room, seated me at a table, and bade me 
write. His own place was at an old mahogany 
desk, where he had a great array of writing mate- 
rials. Once there he was seized by the horreur 
de la plume and wouldn't write a word. I, how- 
ever, was not allowed to be idle, and wrote 
Heaven knows what nonsense, he supplying the 
names of the characters and telling me to put 
in " plenty of conversation and incident." He 
wrote letters, talked to me, spread out his serious 
sheets of paper, and then rushed out into the 

19 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

garden and brought in flowers to arrange, and 
so on, until it was time for the table to be laid 
for the midday meal; and the forty-page article 
did not get written that summer. 

His interest in Russia began in 1863, when 
he made the acquaintance of a number of the 
officers of the Russian flagship which was for a 
time stationed off New York. The opportunity 
to learn a new language was too great a tempta- 
tion to be resisted, and he secured a teacher in 
the person of a priest connected with the Greek 
Church in New York. In the summer of 1867 
he published a translation of Turguenief's " Fath- 
ers and Sons." 

About the end of the year 1866 he was asked 
to edit a translation of selections from the " Kal- 
evala," made just before his death by the late 
Professor John A. Porter, of Yale College. This 
involved an Introduction and Analysis, and with 
his usual thoroughness he prepared himself by 
a careful study of the poem in the original, 
learning the Finnish language for the purpose. 
His introduction is dated July 26, 1867. 

Although his law-practice was improving and 
the prospect was brighter than for many young 
lawyers, yet it was a profession which never in- 
terested him sufficiently to gain his undivided 

20 



A MEMOIR 

attention. He yielded to his desire for travel 
and a larger knowledge of the world, and in the 
summer of 1867 obtained an appointment as 
Consul at Moscow. He sailed early in Septem- 
ber, and, landing at Queenstown, went on slowly, 
seeing as much as possible by the way. He made 
the acquaintance of M. Taine and of Sainte- 
Beuve in Paris and of Turguenief at Baden. 
The latter gave him letters to friends in Moscow, 
among others one to Count Leo Tolstoy. After 
a short stop in St. Petersburg he went on to 
Moscow. There he found himself at the same 
time intensely interested and intensely lonely. 
He longed for letters and counted the days be- 
tween mails. Meantime he drew for his mother 
a plan of his lodgings, with the location of chairs 
and tables, and told her about the Russian houses 
with plants growing in all the rooms, the poorer 
houses with artificial flowers stuck in the sand 
between the double windows. He described the 
appearance of the town with its green roofs and 
gilt domes, and the three hundred and sixty- 
six churches, each with a dozen bells, ringing 
nearly all the time, " fast, too, as if for a fire." 
To other friends he wrote detailed and enthusi- 
astic descriptions of scenery, architecture, cus- 
toms, and people. He lost no time in making 

21 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

acquaintances. All kinds of people interested 
and amused him, and here, as later in St. Peters- 
burg, he was the enfant gate of every house which 
he frequented, from that of Prince Odoiefsky, 
the last survivor of the noblest family in Russia, 
to the rich merchants of various nationalities, 
and the Russianised German baroness who eked 
out her husband's income by keeping a shop for 
fancy-goods. 

He wrote to his friend Russell Sturgis, Octo- 
ber 29, 1867: 

" Of course I have not yet made many acquaint- 
ances here. I dined last night with the Prince 
Vladimir Odoiefsky, en famille, his wife and 
one young man whose name I can't recall. The 
Prince is an agreeable old man of about sixty- 
five, a bibliophile, with a splendid library which 
overflows every room except one salon, where 
plants in profusion take the place of books. . . . 
They live very simply and without affectation. 
To be sure there were three man-servants, but 
those here are a matter of course. The house is 
not furnished richly, and there was no attempt 
at show. The dinner was very good, though 
with only one dish peculiarly Russian. It is a 
kind of partridge, and with it are served salted — 
not pickled — cucumbers. They are very good 
— large, with sometimes a dash of caraway in 
them. We had any number of wines — all set on 

22 



A MEMOIR 

at once, and you take which you please. I was 
made to taste a Russian sherry and claret, one 
from the Crimea, the other from the Caucasus, 
and both very good — the sherry was from vines 
imported from Spain — also some Russian cordials. 
Before dinner we had also the sakuska, 1 salt-fish, 
bread, and brandy. After dinner it is the custom 
here for each guest to shake hands with and 
thank the hostess and host. After coffee and 
cigarettes we had a general conversation on 
books and other matters. The Prince is also a 
musician. He has an organ, two or three 
pianos and other instruments. Nothing would 
do but I must try a duet with him; so we played 
half a dozen, apparently to his satisfaction, for 
he complimented me a good deal, and then 
showed me, as a special favour, a piano which he 
had had made on mathematical principles. It is 
the only one in the world and is beautiful, as 
well as curious. In the ordinary piano the 
sharps and flats, being separated by only a very 
small interval, are run together and then all the 
keys equally regulated. It would be impossible 
for an ordinary man to play on or tune them 
otherwise. In this the sharps and flats were dis- 
tinct, there being twenty instead of thirteen 
notes in the octave. The fourth is a perfect 
concord, as on the violin. The workmanship 
was exquisite and the effect splendid. Alto- 
gether it was the ideal piano. After this we 



23 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

had tea, in tumblers, and more talk. I pleased 
the old lady by showing her a new game of soli- 
taire, and am invited to a salon on Friday even- 
ing, when I am to be introduced to the haute 
societe of Moscow. Some of the princesses are 
pretty, but none of them are said to be rich." 

After the first really cold weather of the Rus- 
sian winter, he wrote: 

" Now I will tell you how it feels. Of course 
you find it difficult to keep the house as warm 
as usual. You wrap up and go out-doors. Your 
skin is shrivelled up and you feel smaller. I be- 
lieve if it were not for your bones you would 
shrink up to half the size. There are not many 
people in the streets, and all of them are shape- 
less lumps of wrappings. The sun shines very 
brightly in a perfectly cloudless sky, but the 
breath of men and horses makes a vapour that 
immediately falls in minute snow-crystals. If 
you walk fast you can keep warm, but your legs 
feel heavy and you would like to sit down on a 
doorstep for awhile, or lean up against a fence. 
If you wink, your eyelashes freeze together. 
Then at night, the sky seems perfectly black 
and the stars shine very brightly, but don't give 
much light. The vapour from the gas has formed 
a coat of ice on the inside of the street-lamps 
and the lights are mere faintly glimmering 

specks." 

24 



A MEMOIR 

His esprit chercheur carried him far in his ob- 
servations. 

" The common people dress very lightly — thin 
trousers and shirt, without underclothing, and 
reserve their warm furs and skins for the street. 
In the Traktirs, or restaurants, the waiters have 
long, loose white linen trousers, with a white 
linen or coloured silk shirt, with a sash round it 
— nothing else. I pinched one of them to see." 

In the spring of 1868 he made his first jour- 
ney to Orenburg, travelling in company with a 
Russian merchant. They went down the Volga 
by steamboat and thence by tarantass; frater- 
nising with young Englishmen in the telegraphic 
service, with Russian families, with travellers of 
all nationalities; landing to pay visits with his 
merchant friend, and calling in addition on " the 
wife of one of the principal Ural Cossacks," 
where he found " a rather pretty daughter play- 
ing on a grand piano and not a bit like a Cos- 
sack," and "a very nice little girl named Tanya;" 
and alighting from the tarantass to pick wild 
lilies of the valley and other flowers. At Oren- 
burg he saw much that was interesting and 
heard much talk of the hostilities in Asia and 
the depression of trade and uncertainties of car- 
avans; attended prayers at the Bukharan mosque 

25 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

and made numerous acquaintances, including an 
American, who by some turn of fortune was liv- 
ing in Orenburg as Capellmeister. He dined 
with the Governor-General and also with a Buk- 
haran who had the dinner served on " a little 
pink tablecloth laid on the Bukharan carpets 
which covered the floor." The pilof, for which 
each guest had a spoon, a concession to their 
foreign prejudices, but which all ate out of the 
same dish, " was truly delicious." He says in 
his diary that the Bukharans " seem to have 
supposed that America was a mere expression 
used to lower the price of their cotton, and are 
quite curious about me, thinking I am come to 
interfere with their trade." 

He crossed the Ural, and as he drove over 
the steppe had the pleasure of feeling himself 
in Asia; took refuge from a storm in a Kirghiz 
kibitka and drank kumys for the first time in his 
life; and finally ended his visit by assisting at 
the festivities in honour of the Grand Duke Vla- 
dimir — a banquet and a camel-race — and got 
back to Moscow four weeks from the time he 
started. 

Early in October of the same year he visited 
Count Leo Tolstoy at his estate of Yasnaya 
Polyana. The letters which he wrote from 

26 



A MEMOIR 

there were incorporated in the sketch of Tol- 
stoy, written twenty years later. 

All this time he was working indefatigably, 
studying Russian and French, reading exten- 
sively, and making himself familiar not only 
with the work of his office, but with Russian 
affairs. The character of his work is indicated 
in the following letter of good advice written 
about this time: 

"My Dear Eva: ... I think you make 
a mistake in going to so many lectures. One 
can't have time to know everything. Take the 
subjects you are most interested in and let the 
others alone. You are like me, you can be- 
come easily interested in almost anything, and 
we are both tempted continually to study up 
some new thing. I try quite rigidly to confine 
myself to four connected subjects, but am con- 
tinually running over. Mine are history, liter- 
ature, language, and mythology — especially in 
the Teutonic and Slavonic peoples. Science I 
am extremely fond of and am sometimes sorry 
I did not devote myself to it, but it is now too 
late, and I must content myself with an occa- 
sional glance. Diplomacy and statistics — my 
present profession — I consider a part of history. 
Among other wild projects I seriously think of 
writing a ' Manual of the Diplomatic History of 
the Nineteenth Century.' " 

27 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

With the change of administration in 1869, 
came the usual turning out of office. By this 
time Mr. Schuyler was used to his official work 
and had grown fond of it, and was making him- 
self an authority on Russian affairs. His reports 
and despatches abounded in information. More- 
over he was now making plans for literary work 
which would require a longer stay in Russia. 
He hoped that his proved fitness for his post 
would cause him to be retained, especially as it 
had not been generally considered a desirable 
one at the time of his appointment. For a time 
he heard nothing, either directly or indirectly. 
Then the London Times announced his removal 
and he awaited the event. Various newspapers 
contradicted the statement of the Times, and he 
wrote, May 14th: 

" I am delighted to find that the news in the 
London Times of my removal is so far untrue, 
and that I shall have a chance to stay here a while 
longer. What especially pleases me is the inter- 
est some of my friends have taken in the matter. 
Some unknown friend inserted a letter (which I 
have heard of, but not seen) in a London paper, 
praising me and objecting to my removal; and 
Mr. Bancroft, the moment he heard the report, 
wrote to Washington to have me retained or 
transferred to Odessa." 

28 



A MEMOIR 

Supposing that matters were settled for the 
time, he went for a few days to Kief, and on his 
return found that he had been superseded some 
weeks before, and that his pay had stopped at 
the same time. He says, in a letter of June 
17th: 

" If I had known that I was removed I should 
not have taken the journey which I shall here 
relate to you, but supposing that the report of 
my removal was an error, I went and enjoyed 
myself, without suspicion of the evil fate that 
was in store for me. On the whole, I can't say 
I am sorry I went, though I should like to have 
again the money it cost." 

At Kief he saw, as usual, all that there was 
to see, and made many acquaintances (only one 
of whom he found fault with, a lady who was 
" fearfully talkative in several languages "), and 
happened, as usual, on a peasant wedding, where 
he " drank cherry vodka, danced the Kazatchek, 
and learned the Russian game of jackstraws of 
a little girl." 

On his return to Moscow, wishing to remain 
in Russia, he expressed his willingness to accept 
the consulship at Revel, although it was not a 
desirable post; and in the meantime occupied 
himself in writing for various periodicals. 

29 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

"August $, 1869, Moscow. 

"My Dear Eva: Your letter from Cherry 
Valley came yesterday, to my great delight, as 
it was a very long time since I had heard from 
you. I have myself not written to anybody for 
the last two or three weeks, because I am often 
in a disagreeable state of mind, and because as 
I am trying to write for my living, I am so busy 
writing and reading every day that my head is 
about run out of ideas. This week I have writ- 
ten one letter to the World and three to the 
Evening Post, besides being busy on two articles 
and reading for another. I cannot do one thing 
at a time. It is not my nature. If I could 
only write ten such pages every day I should be 
quite content, but there are sure to be three days 
out of the week when I am either indisposed to 
write or am interrupted. For instance, yester- 
day I had promised to introduce the new consul 
to the dignitaries and other consuls, and that 
destroyed the whole day. . . . 

" I have had a great misfortune; my little white 
and brown cat is dead — she was Belenka. I 
have two others, gray ones — Sasha and Masha. 
I had another Masha, a beautiful tiger-striped 
cat, that I had since it was a little kitten, but 
somebody stole it, so I got a second one as 
nearly like it as I could, but it is much more 
stupid. You see in my old age I have taken up 
again with the pets of my infancy. Sasha is 

30 



A MEMOIR 

very wise and sits on my shoulder, her favourite 
place, as I write this. . . ." 

In the autumn he was appointed Consul at 
Revel; but in the meantime he had made the 
acquaintance of Mr. Curtin, the new Minister 
to Russia, who offered him the position of Secre- 
tary of Legation, left vacant by the resignation 
of Mr. Coffey, and he resigned the consulship. 

Life in St. Petersburg was a great change 
from the simpler ways of Moscow. Here he 
first tasted the pleasures and excitements of di- 
plomacy, at that time perhaps nowhere more in- 
teresting than in Russia, whose progress in 
Asia was arousing a jealous attention, while her 
form of government inevitably led to the impres- 
sion that there were secrets in the air, and stim- 
ulated diplomatic acuteness. To this new sphere 
of action Mr. Schuyler brought special qualifi- 
cations; for to an inquiring mind and marvellous 
quickness of observation he added winning man- 
ners and a knowledge of the Russian language. 
As a result he soon came to be looked upon as 
perhaps the best informed man in diplomatic cir- 
cles. The extent and minuteness of his knowl- 
edge were only rivalled by its accuracy, and what- 
ever news he chose to impart could be relied upon. 

3i 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

In January, 1870, he wrote: 

" Most of my reading just now is very solid 
and practical, on Russian statistics and other 
subjects almost exclusively. I have to write 
here a great many letters which demand a thor- 
ough knowledge of Russian subjects, and though 
I suppose I know more about them than any dip- 
lomat here, except Michell, the English Secre- 
tary, I have to do a good deal of cramming. I 
have just finished a long report on Russian man- 
ufactures, with the prospect ahead of another on 
grain production and traffic. Then, too, I wrote 
not long ago a paper on the Treatment of the 
Jews in Russia for Mr. Curtin." 

Curtin, the " War Governor " of Pennsylvania, 
had been an important figure at a time and in 
a place which had given scope for his qualities. 
He had gained a great reputation and deserved 
well of his country. To fill the mission in Rus- 
sia was not an easy matter for a man who knew 
no language but his own. Naturally he had to 
depend much on his Secretary of Legation, and 
his frequent absences on leave left the latter in 
charge of the Legation during comparatively 
long periods. A situation of that sort is exceed- 
ingly difficult both for the Minister and for the 
Secretary. 

32 



A MEMOIR 

One would think that with the business of 
the Legation, a keen interest in diplomatic and 
political affairs, and a habit of reading and writ- 
ing, a man's time would be well filled. But 
this was only half of the story. At this period 
of his life the taste for amusement was equally 
strong. Practically all doors were open to him. 
Society was ready not only to receive him, but 
to make much of him, and he was on terms of 
intimacy in a very great variety of houses. Then 
there were the great spectacular festivities which 
formed part of the diplomatic life, and of which 
the letter quoted below gives a fair picture; 
there were the several intimate circles of young 
men, each in sympathy with a different side of 
a many-sided nature; and there were all the 
usual amusements of a city — a brilliant, extrava- 
gant, cosmopolitan city, where the pace was 
rapid. And to this menu he brought an appe- 
tite rendered keener by an extraordinary union 
of intellectual with physical ardour. 

In the midst of all this, and although Court 
festivities soon became a twice-told tale, he 
found time to write to the sister left behind in 
the quiet of a country town, minute descriptions 
of what he knew would interest her. 
Vol. I.-3 33 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

"St. Petersburg, January -rV, 1870. 
" My Dear Eva : . . . Last week we had a 
great ceremony here at the Palace. The Grand 
Duke Alexis arrived at majority and took the 
oath of allegiance. The Diplomatic people were 
all invited and all the ladies and gentlemen of 
the Court. The ladies were all in Russian cos- 
tume and the men in uniform. Mr. Curtin hap- 
pened to be ill and General Franklin was of 
course in uniform, so that I was the only one 
in the immense assemblage in black dress. Of 
course I felt very awkward. What a ridiculous, 
foolish law that is, to make us go in the costume 
of a waiter. Well, to go back — we arrived at 
one o'clock and were conducted through any 
quantity of salons hung with pictures and lined 
with detachments of all the various regiments of 
the guard, in beautiful uniforms, into the chapel. 
There we were placed on one side and the ladies 
on the other. Next to us were the Ministers 
and the Council of the Empire. Finally there 
came in a procession of officials who brought in 
the orb, the sceptre, containing the celebrated 
OrlorT diamond, and the crown. After that the 
Metropolitan and other archbishops went towards 
the door of the chapel to meet the Imperial fam- 
ily. First came the Emperor and Empress, who 
kissed the cross and were blessed, then the Tse- 
sarevitch and Dagmar. looking very pretty in her 
Russian dress, and then all the other members of 

34 



A MEMOIR 

the Imperial family, and then the rest of the Court. 
When they had taken their places there was a 
short religious service with very fine music, then 
Alexis read aloud the oath in a loud, strong, fine 
voice, signed it and handed it to Gortchakoff. 
After that there was a Te Deum sung. The choir 
was magnificent, but right in the middle we were 
led out through rooms filled with soldiers to the 
Throne-room, where we were put on a platform 
to the right of the throne. There were selected 
specimens from all the regiments, with drums and 
banners, and one banner, that of the Moscow 
regiment, standing directly over a little reading- 
desk. The Imperial family again entered and 
took places on the throne platform. The Em- 
peror led up Alexis to the desk and he took the 
military oath. Then he kissed his father, holding 
his cheek up to his for a long time. Then after 
a military salute, the Imperial family passed out, 
and we finally did the same and went home. The 
Empress stood during the ceremony on the throne 
steps, so that I saw her very well. She was 
dressed magnificently in white with lots of lace, 
and a train of dark red-purple velvet covered with 
gold embroidery. Her coronet and necklace 
were the finest diamonds I ever saw. The Em- 
peror was in uniform. The effect of the gorgeous 
uniforms and the ladies' dresses was very beau- 
tiful. . . ." 



35 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

" Saturday, January £§. 

" We have had still more ceremonies. On Tues- 
day there was the blessing of the River Neva and 
a grand parade. We were invited to the palace, 
where we had a nice time. The ladies were in 
morning costume, and it was quite free and easy. 
We had good places and saw the religious cere- 
mony on the ice very well, but the walls and 
windows were so thick that it was all dumb show, 
for we could not hear a sound. After that we 
sat down to a lunch, and, I must say, the Em- 
peror either has a bad cook, or he did not exert 
himself much for us. Then we were taken to 
the other side of the palace, from which we saw 
the review of 47,000 troops. The Cavalry, 
Lancers, and Cossacks were splendid, and the 
whole was by far the best parade I ever saw. 
The Governor says the same, though he saw the 
great reviews at Paris of 1867. It, however, lost 
a little from the bands being inaudible. 

" To-day we were all presented to the Grand 
Duchess Marie Alexandrovna, 1 the only daughter 
of the Emperor. She is only sixteen and this is 
her first appearance in the world. She is to come 
out at a Grand Ball on Tuesday. Marie is rather 
pretty, though her nose and mouth are not good. 
She was a little embarrassed, though on the whole 
she did very well, and everybody was charmed 
with her. The ladies were taken to her one by 
one, and then the men of the Corps Diplomatique, 

1 The Duchess of Edinburgh. 
36 



A MEMOIR 

about sixty, were put in circle and she went the 
rounds, having quite a conversation with each 
one in French, English, or German, as the case 
might be. She was apparently crammed up be- 
forehand, for she seemed to know something 
about each man's private history. It was a very 
trying ordeal for a young girl. She looks fully 
nineteen. She was dressed in rose-pink silk, 
much flounced, with white trimming, low-necked, 
with a pearl necklace, one pearl bracelet and one 
diamond one, and a rose in her hair. I go into 
particulars at the risk of being thought absurd, 
because I think they will interest you, and I know 
they will Aunt R. Tell me whether I sent you 
her photograph and if not I will do so. 

" For more serious occupation I went on 
Wednesday to an ' Economic Society ' dinner, 
where I made the acquaintance of many economists 
and scientists, and heard a long discussion in Rus- 
sian on the Suez Canal. I paid a flying visit to 
Pakoff on Thursday, but as I was only there a few 
hours, I have nothing to tell about it. I went down 
with General Franklin, who has at last gone, 
much to my regret. He is one of the few men 
with whom I have been in intimate relations for a 
month, and with whom, with all my criticalness, 
I can discover no possible fault. 

" I think the length of this letter will excuse the 
length of time that has elapsed since my last. 
Write to me all that is going on. With much 
love to all, Yours, as ever, Eugene." 

37 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

In all his letters the dominant note is friendli- 
ness. It is astonishing how well he liked people; 
and in the intimate letters of twenty-five years one 
could count on one's fingers the persons whom he 
mentioned with dislike. Even his dislikes were not 
bitter, and he could appreciate the good qualities 
of an enemy; though in a moment of irritation he 
might seem unable to tolerate the foibles of a friend. 

In October, 1870, he visited Finland, a coun- 
try which had interested him ever since his edi- 
torial work on the translation of the " Kalevala." 
He was enchanted with the scenery, with his 
night's stay at a farm called Liuxiala, which was 
" towards the end of the sixteenth century the 
abode of Queen Catherine of Sweden, after her 
husband, Erik XIV., was dethroned." From 
Helsingfors he wrote: 

" The people here have really been too good to 
me. They have looked on me as in some way 
representing the Kalevala in America and have 
shown me no end of attention. I have met 
nearly all the professors at the University, and 
they have taken great pains to explain to me all 
I wanted to know — and one even volunteered to 
give me some Finnish lessons. Several of them 
have presented me copies of their books in Fin- 
nish and Swedish, and I have quite a collection 
illustrating the Finnish literature." 

38 



A MEMOIR 

He was much feted, and as he wrote, " made 
many pleasant acquaintances." With some of 
them he corresponded at intervals for years. 

In the spring of 1871 he obtained a leave of ab- 
sence and returned to America, where he spent the 
summer. A trip to the Rocky Mountains fulfilled 
the double object of increasing his knowledge of his 
own country and renewing his acquaintance with 
the younger brother whom he had left as a cadet at 
West Point, 1 and whom he characterises in a letter 
written during this journey as " the nicest fellow 
I ever met." 

He returned to Russia in the autumn, but the 
pleasures of St. Petersburg had begun to pall, 
and in March, 1872, he wrote to a friend: 

" I don't think St. Petersburg is a place to grow 
in, though I have grown a great deal in spite of 
it. There are many cultivated people scattered 
about. The Court circle numbers some. . . . 
But you can't find any set with that general love 
of art and literature that you find in New York, 
with the same cultivation and good manners. I 
am continually thinking better of America. I 
sometimes sigh for New York. Indeed I often 
sigh to be away from here, and it is a resolve of 
mine to get away as soon as I can." 

1 Major Walter Schuyler, United States Army, at present Colonel of the 
Forty-sixth Infantry, serving in the Philippines. 

39 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

But he was destined to remain in St. Peters- 
burg for some time longer. About this time he 
began to interest himself more systematically in 
art than he had heretofore done. In September, 
1872, he wrote: 

" There is one fault which nearly all connoisseurs 
have, and the better they are, the more they fall 
into it. With a good memory and a trained eye 
one can arrive at fixing almost unerringly by 
what artist a picture is painted, in which of his 
manners, and what parts have been retouched 
or repainted. That is a very good thing. But I 
notice that most people who can do that, get to 
looking at pictures very much as a botanist does 
at plants. If it is a fine specimen they are de- 
lighted. They don't seem to discriminate enough 
between pictures, setting down one artist as good 
and another as bad. Then, too, they are naturally 
led by the consensus of the critical and artistic 
world, and admire Raphael or Correggio or 
Poussin, or whom you will, simply because they 
have great reputations and must be good painters. 
That is all a truism to you, but I am particularly 
struck with it every time I meet a good ' judge 
of art.' Whatever I do I don't want to do that, 
but hope to be able to like pictures with a reason, 
and also to say why others are bad, and not to be 
afraid to say so, because Ruskin or Reynolds or 
Eastlake are opposed to me." 

40 



A MEMOIR 

From a month's trip to Vienna and Dresden, 
with incidental halts at other places, he acquired 
an amazing amount of artistic experience. At 
last even he felt that his brain was becoming- 
over-stimulated ; especially when an opera of Wag- 
ner was added to the sightseeing of the day. Of 
" Lohengrin " he wrote : 

" It was wonderful, but it excites me too much. 
I should like to hear it again to-night to form a 
cooler judgment. I have never been so worked 
up by an opera before, and listened to it breath- 
lessly from beginning to end. It is the music 
chiefly. The play is not so well written nor so 
poetical an idea as the ' Fliegende Hollander.' 

" All this excites me too much. My imagination 
runs perfect riot. I go to bed tired at eleven or 
so, and the moment my head touches the pillow 
I have the most curious complicated dreams, 
combining the times of mythology, the middle 
ages and the present day, which last till morning, 
so that I wake up tired." 

On his return to St. Petersburg he wrote: 

" So ends my ' Art Journey,' as I call it. I feel 
as if it were at least six months since I left here. 
Then, too, I feel that I have learned so much. I 
really look on it as one of those growing and 
starting points in a man's life, and I shall be 
much astonished if I don't develop still more. . . . 

4i 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

Now I am going to try to settle down to hard 
work. I have a lot of things on hand to do, and 
I am going to set about doing them as fast as 
possible." 



Ill 

Mr. Curtin resigned in the summer of 1872, 
and his successor, Mr. Orr, did not reach St. 
Petersburg until the following winter. Soon after 
his arrival Mr. Schuyler obtained a leave of ab- 
sence and availed himself of an opportunity to 
visit Central Asia — a region rendered especially 
interesting by the recent Russian conquests. 

" I shall probably astonish you a good deal by 
telling you that I am going to Central Asia, 
where I shall be gone for some months. It is 
one of those chances that ought not to be thrown 
away. I go with the permission of Governor 
Orr. I cannot say exactly when I shall come 
back, if I ever do, for as there is a war in that 
region things are rather unsettled. Still, I ex- 
pect to keep far away from any fighting, and do 
not apprehend any difficulties at all. So do not 
be alarmed. 

" My route is something like this : Moscow, 
Saratof on the Volga, Orenburg (where I was in 
1868), Sea of Aral, Tashkent, Samarcand, per- 
haps Kokan, and back by way of Siberia. ,, 

42 



A MEMOIR 

This was the most extensive journey which he 
had yet undertaken, and was not by any means 
devoid of danger. Inheriting from his mother a 
physical timidity which made him uncomfortable 
when walking beside a precipice, or on a lonely 
road at night, a touch of excitement and interest, 
and especially a sense of responsibility brought 
the other side of his nature uppermost, and he 
could ride cheerfully through a crowd of un- 
friendly Asiatics, knowing that the first act of 
hostility might be the signal for his murder; or 
he could sit and read a novel (and remember what 
he read) while awaiting the order for the pas- 
sengers to leave a burning ship in mid-ocean. 
With a strong love of luxury and without great 
physical endurance, he submitted philosophically 
to any amount of fatigue and discomfort in pursuit 
of new knowledge and experience. 

He left St. Petersburg toward the end of March, 
1873, and from Saratof travelled by open taran- 
tass, arriving at Orenburg with a " lobster face," 
from which the skin was peeling off. From 
there he went on, with camels or horses, as the 
case might be, writing from Kazala : " This 
country reminds me a good deal of the plains of 
Colorado, but I suppose it is still more like 
Arizona." 

43 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

MacGahan was his travelling companion, but 
at Fort Peroffsky they separated, MacGahan 
going across the desert to Khiva. Nothing 
failed to interest him, and during the long drives 
across the country he noted, with the trained eye 
of a botanist and the enthusiasm of a lover of 
nature, the varying vegetation, both wild and 
cultivated — thickets of saxaul; tulips and pop- 
pies, and " a blue flower something like a hya- 
cinth; " the fields of barley and millet; and the 
little irrigating canals, " without which one can 
do nothing." He reached Tashkent on May 3d, 
driving " through a perfect wilderness of gardens.'* 

" As I sat on the doorstep that evening, I could 
not help thinking that I had fallen on some vil- 
lage in Central New York. The houses, to be 
sure, are differently built, but then in the moon- 
light one does not notice that. But the aspect 
of the straight streets with the gardens and trees, 
the noise of the water, etc., all were like Ithaca 
or Geneva. New or Russian Tashkent is quite 
distinct from the old city, and has all been built 
in seven years. There are about 10,000 Russians 
here, including the army; and shops, a church, 
and a beautiful garden attached to the house of 
the Governor-General, where there is music 
three times a week. The Sart, or native town, 
is very different. The streets are narrow and 

44 



A MEMOIR 

crooked, with no windows on them, the houses 
all being put back behind the gardens and en- 
closed with high walls, so as to hide the women. 
You see them occasionally in the street in blue 
dresses and a black horse-hair veil, which effectu- 
ally hides their faces. The men are all in long, 
gay-coloured dressing-gowns of cotton or silk. 
Some wear white or blue turbans, but the most 
of them only little embroidered caps on their 
shaven skulls. I have only once been to the 
bazaar, so I will not say anything about it till I 
have seen it more thoroughly. In the Sart city 
there must be over 300,000 people. 

" I have made a number of acquaintances both 
among the Russians and the natives. Last even- 
ing, in company with some others, I walked 
through the town, through the pretty garden of 
a mosque, and finally called on Sharif-Khodja 
Kazi, a judge (cadi, they call them in Turkey), 
and one of the chief mollahs, or learned men, 
the director of a college, or medresse. There 
were a lot of people there, relatives and students. 
We sat on our legs on carpets spread on a por- 
tico, drank green tea, smoked a Bukharan pipe, 
and ate various sweet things and pistachio nuts. 
This spread they call a destur-khan. Curiously 
enough everyone seems to have heard of Amer- 
ica, and one man had even seen a picture of 
Lincoln — whom he thought a very handsome 
man. 

" Monday. — Last night I went to the Governor- 

45 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

General's garden to hear the music, and met 
there a lot of people, some Russians and some 
Asiatics. At last we went home to tea with Mr. 
Petroffsky, who is very kind to me in showing 
me about, and I stayed there till two o'clock. 
Among the people were Djura Beg, the former 
Bek of Kitab, another Bukharan, an influential 
Khirgiz, a Tartar doctor who has been doctor of 
nearly all the sovereigns here, has seen several of 
them murdered, and has been nearly killed him- 
self several times. The story he told me was in 
the highest degree interesting. . . . 

" Three of us made a little excursion to Urgut, 
a town in the mountains, twenty-five miles to 
the south. Everywhere on the road the village 
authorities met us with complimentary addresses, 
and trays of sweets, which are here called destur- 
khans. At Urgut we had pavilions ready for us 
in a beautiful grove, and had a royal time. When 
I left Samarcand, horses were ready for me every- 
where on the road, and I returned by way of Ura 
Tube and Khodjent. Everywhere the same des- 
tur-khans, everywhere rooms were prepared for 
me, and I travelled as the Emir himself." 

Nevertheless he found the road barred before 

him in various directions, and in Kokan was 

" reviled by the inhabitants," although as a rule 

the opposition to his journey was masked under 

many civilities. 

46 



A MEMOIR 

" At every place I have been most magnificently 
received, in fact I don't know what they could 
do more for me. At every city the principal men 
of the place in gorgeous attire rode out several 
miles to meet us, and everywhere I was presented 
with khalats — a robe like a dressing-gown — of 
cloth of gold, horses with magnificent caparisons,, 
etc., had too much even to eat, and almost every 
night dances and festivities, such as they were. 
It is the exact contrary of my experience in 
Kokan. But a few minutes ago the Bek, a son 
of the Emir, and the heir to the throne, sent me 
five khalats of various kinds, and a white horse — 
this time I believe a good one — with housings 
of blue and silver and a bridle set with tur- 
quoises and agates. I am now the possessor of 
four horses, but most of them bad. Of course 
I have to give presents in return, and with the 
exception of a few things I shall keep, I shall 
sell the most to pay the expenses." 

" Bukhara, August 12th. 
" I have now done with my trip here and shall 
go back to Samarcand to-morrow. At present 
I am a slave-owner, having bought to-day a 
young Persian of ten years old for 700 tengas, 
or about $100. I saw a charming boy on the 
bazaar in the slave market and felt very sorry 
for him, as he had only been lately captured, 
and after wavering in mind whether I could 
afford it, finally bought him, and paid part of 

47 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

the price, but before I could secure him, he was 
spirited off by order of the Government and I 
lost him. So to take to Samarcand a visible 
proof that they sell slaves here (for they deny it 
to the Russians), I bought this little fellow at 
private sale. I shall take him to St. Petersburg 
and hand him over to the Persian Minister to be 
sent home. 

" On the road from Karshi here I spent a night 
in the camp of the Emir, who was going to 
Karshi, and was presented to him. He received 
me very well; told me I could travel where I 
pleased, and gave me a horse and four khalats. 
Here, at Bukhara, I have been lodged in a very 
nice house, and have had a chance to see every- 
thing. I think the Government has been a good 
deal disturbed by my inquiries and investigations. 
They have tried to make my stay as agreeable as 
possible, but on the subject of the slave deceived 
me fearfully and lied to me constantly. The 
same thing took place about going to Tchardjui, 
where I wanted to go. The Emir told me I could 
go, but the people here made all sorts of diffi- 
culties and finally told me I could not go. I 
think, however, that I have thoroughly done the 
city, and I have rather enjoyed the intrigues." 

A few days later, as he was riding through a 
large bazaar, there were some hostile demonstra- 
tions. One man picked up a large stone, but 
fortunately betrayed himself by muttering: "Just 

48 



A MEMOIR 

let me hit him and he will drop dead at once, and 
there will be one Kaffir the less." He was driven 
off, picked up another stone, and was finally 
soundly beaten by Mr. Schuyler's servants. 

In the meantime Mr. Orr had died in St. 
Petersburg, and by the time the news reached 
Mr. Schuyler in Asia, Mr. Jewell had been ap- 
pointed Minister and was on his way to Russia. 
Mr. Schuyler hastened his return and reached St. 
Petersburg about the middle of November. 

" I have been here now a week, but am not yet 
settled down. . . . Mr. Jewell I like very 
much, and he is certainly remarkably kind and 
considerate. The State Department, so far as I 
know, is still satisfied with me, and talks of pro- 
motion, though as yet in indefinite terms. . . . 

" I expect to write a book and hope to have it 
ready by spring. In that case I shall probably 
resign in case I do not receive some other place. 
The Herald has offered me a place in New York 
as editorial writer, but I think I can do bet- 
ter. . . , 

" People here seem to think I have done a 
great thing in going to Central Asia, and more 
especially in coming back again. I don't know 
exactly how I have changed, but somehow I 
seem no longer to be the same — even to myself. 
Without being more serious — I feel myself so. 

Vol. I.— 4 49 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

Probably I am not yet oriente to St. Petersburg 
life, but all here but two or three bore me dread- 
fully, and I don't know what to do with myself. 
With people who are interested in Central Asia 
I can talk with much more pleasure. You see it 
is my present hobby that I am riding to death." 

Mr. Jewell resigned in the summer of 1874, 
after only a year and a half of St. Petersburg. 
His relations with Mr. Schuyler always remained 
cordial and even affectionate. He, too, was a man 
who spoke no language but English, and was 
unversed in Russian affairs, and thus had to rely 
greatly on his Secretary of Legation. His letters 
show him to have been shrewd, generous, humour- 
ous, and modest, and a very loyal friend. He saw 
clearly the disadvantage of sending representa- 
tives who were ignorant of the affairs of the 
countries to which they were accredited, and of 
any language but their own; and he expressed 
very earnestly his desire to have the place suit- 
ably filled after his resignation. 

At this time Mr. Schuyler wished to resign his 
position in order to publish his book on Central 
Asia; and in spite of his strong preference for a 
diplomatic career and his unwillingness to give 
it up unless it should prove necessary to do so, 
he was making plans to adopt another profession, 

5o 



A MEMOIR 

in view of the uncertainties of the American Dip- 
lomatic Service. 

Meanwhile, although anxious to publish his 
book while the subject was still fresh in the 
public mind, he felt obliged to remain at his post 
until the arrival of a new Minister, since the Secre- 
tary of State had requested him to do so, and had 
in fact refused to accept his resignation. 

He had returned from the journey to Central 
Asia in 1873, filled with information on many 
subjects; and above all enlightened as to the 
methods of Russian officials in those parts. Since 
the better class of men disliked being sent to 
those outlying regions, it unfortunately happened 
that there where promotion was exceptionally 
rapid, inferior men rose to power. Thus, even in 
cases where the policy of the Government was 
unobjectionable, untrustworthy agents were left 
to carry it out. From this arose great abuses. 
What with burdensome taxation, broken promises, 
attempts to enforce a system of government for- 
eign to the ideas of the inhabitants and incompre- 
hensible to them, and the substitution of " admin- 
istrative methods " for law, whenever law seemed 
burdensome to the foreign rulers, the unfortunate 
natives were greatly fretted and bewildered. 
When in addition to this, the Russian officers 

5i 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

were all anxious to obtain decorations as a reward 
of valour, a premium was placed on war. As, for 
instance, in the celebrated case of General Kauf- 
mann, who wanted the Cross of St. George and 
could not obtain it except for victory in battle. 
It will be remembered that the Turkomans had 
yielded and had been pardoned, and were keeping 
faith with the Russians. Under the circumstances 
General Kaufmann decided that it was necessary 
to subdue " their pride and their license." Ac- 
cordingly he levied an extortionate tax, and then 
went out on the warpath without giving them 
time to raise the money to pay it. The battle 
which brought him his Cross of St. George was 
really a massacre; but the distance from St. Peters- 
burg was great. 

It was such information as this that Mr. 
Schuyler brought back from Asia. At Mr. 
Jewell's request, he prepared a report for the 
State Department, which they both supposed 
would be considered a confidential document. 
The Department, however, did not agree with 
their view, and it was published in the Red Book 
of December, 1874, and made much talk. Many 
people were only too glad to receive information 
of Russian atrocities from any source, and all 
the more from a trustworthy authority; and the 

52 



A MEMOIR 

newspapers in general took it for granted that 
the man who had made such revelations could 
not possibly remain in Russia. However, no 
complaint was ever made by the Russian Govern- 
ment, and shortly afterward the Emperor, always 
open-minded, rejected General Kaufmann's plan 
for the reorganization of Central Asia. In his 
diary Mr. Schuyler says: 

" January 10, 1875. — Four copies of Red Book 
arrive with my report on Central Asia, which 
rather startles me. . . . General Vlangali 1 calls 
on me — a charming man — lend him a copy of Red 
Book. 

"January nth. — Baron Osten-Sacken 2 calls — he 
takes Red Book to give me his opinion. . . . 

" January 13th. — Take the Red Book to Strem- 
oukhoff, 3 who receives my report on Central Asia 
much better than I expected. He says no harm 
done. Go to Petrofsky. 

" P. comes to me, says Osten-Sacken is in ecsta- 
sies over my report. Vlangali very much pleased 
and wants to read it to Grand Dukes Alexis and 
Vladimir. Stremoukhoff pleased and will use it for 
his own purposes. . . ." 

Five years later he wrote to a friend who had 
asked him some questions on the subject. 

1 Russian minister to China and later of the department of Asiatic affairs. 

2 At that time one of the Masters of Ceremonies of the Court. 

3 Of the department of Asiatic affairs 

53 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

" I suppose it is impossible to eradicate a pop- 
ular error, but the Russian Government never 
found fault with me in any way or shape, and 
never hinted at my recall either in St. Peters- 
burg or Washington. On the contrary when 
General Kaufmann stated his grief 1 at my criti- 
cisms of his doings in Central Asia, he replied 
that I was in my right and refused to take notice 
of his complaints. It arose from a report which 
I wrote on Central Asia being published by the 
State Department — to my great astonishment. I 
remained after that as Charge d' Affaires for more 
than a year. The report was written in March, 
1874, was published in December, 1874, and I 
left Russia for Constantinople in February, 1876. 

" My book on Turkistan was not published until 
October, 1876, after I had left Russia. Naturally 
after the publication of my report and the subse- 
quent newspaper war, I was obliged to print the 
main facts more in extenso in my book, lest I 
should seem to retract. I did so on the advice 
of several highly placed Russians, two being 
Under Secretaries of the Foreign Office, two 
members of the Council of State, and one, Mr. 
(now Count) Valnief, then Minister and now 
President of the Council of Ministers." 

Mr. Boker accepted the Russian mission early 
in the winter of 1874-75, but did not arrive at 
his post until the following summer. In the 

1 He sometimes uses " grief " in the French sense. 

54 



A MEMOIR 

meantime Mr. Schuyler's friends in Washington 
had endeavoured to keep him in the service by 
obtaining his transfer to another post. Mr. 
Jewell, who was then in the Cabinet, wrote to 
him: 

" I have been trying to get Constantinople for 
you. . . . The Secretary of State has taken it 
up quite vigorously, and the other day asked the 
President to give it to you, giving two very good 
reasons — that he thought the Eastern Question 
was assuming such a peculiar shape now that we 
should have a Minister there now who under- 
stands the language and Eastern politics, and 
saying that you filled the bill better than any 
man on the list of his acquaintances. The Presi- 
dent replied that the pressure on him for that 
place had been very great, people claiming that 
those who stayed at home and fought in the war 
were more entitled to these high offices than 
those who had already filled nice positions abroad 
for many years. Mr. Fish reminded him that 
your position had not been a very nice one, 
though you had filled it well; to which the Presi- 
dent replied that from all accounts he had no 
doubt of your ability and fitness for any Mission, 
as he had heard you very favourably spoken of. 
In the course of the conversation it was remarked 
by somebody, I cannot tell who, that New York 
had three Ministers already, and that it did not 
help us politically to give it to you, but rather 

55 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

the reverse; and that we ought to give it to some 
able and competent Republican from a State like 
Iowa perhaps, which had no representation 
abroad." 

A later letter says: 

" Boker has written that he desires you to stay 
and coach him at least until he is started." 



IV 

In January, 1876, Mr. Schuyler was appointed 
Consul-General and Secretary of Legation at 
Constantinople. It was a relief to him to turn 
his back on St. Petersburg, where, in spite of 
many friends, he had become weary of a mode 
of life which interfered with serious work, and 
which required an inexhaustible purse. However^ 
he was detained until the arrival of his successor. 
He then took leave of absence and went to Lon- 
don, where he saw his book through the press, 
reaching Constantinople about the beginning of 
July. On his way he stopped at Belgrade, just 
at the time when Serbia had decided to make com- 
mon cause with her neighbours, Herzegovina, 
Bosnia, and Montenegro, and declare war upon 
Turkey. 

56 



A MEMOIR 

To Miss King. 

"Belgrade, June 28, 1876. 

" . . . The change from the comfort and the 
orderly life of Paris to the turmoil of a little prin- 
cipality which is on the eve of declaring war 
upon a still powerful empire is a great one. I feel 
as if I were in a far different world, where both 
passions and interests are new to me. And yet I 
have entered into them with a heartiness which I 
did not suspect that I possessed, and the three days 
which I have spent here have been full of incident. 

" I had thought that the efforts of the great pow- 
ers had been effectual in keeping Serbia quiet, and 
I was therefore the more astonished to find that 
everybody here considered war inevitable and was 
daily expecting the issue of a patriotic proclama- 
tion and the departure of Prince Milan for the 
Turkish frontier. Desirous of getting all the in- 
formation I could for future use in Constantinople, 
I at once sank the tourist in the politician, and 
spent nearly my whole time in visiting the Diplo- 
matic Corps, some of whom I already knew, in 
having interviews with the Ministers and with the 
Prince, and in studying the situation. 

" Last Sunday — the night of my arrival — I went 
to the theatre, which was open for the last time 
before the war — as all the actors are to join the 
ambulances. The piece was ' The Janissary,' full 
of blood and murder, of Turkish insolence and 
oppression, and of Serbian valour and patience. 

57 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

I think only two of the characters were alive at 
the end. The object was, of course, to excite 
the popular feeling against Turkey, and if the 
shouts at the end be an index, the piece was well 
chosen. Had the circumstances not been so tragic, 
the play would have seemed to me laughable, but 
I could hardly keep down my emotion when I 
thought of the ruin that might come upon the 
country, the bombardment of this pretty town, 
and the terrible cruelties that would be perpe- 
trated in consequence of this popular enthusiasm. 

" Prince Milan — considering that he left school 
at Paris when only sixteen, in consequence of his 
uncle's assassination, and has had a difficult and 
busy life of it ever since — impressed me as a very 
remarkable young man. He is now only twenty- 
two, handsome and well-built, and singularly in- 
telligent and well-informed. He gave me much 
information about Serbia, and in the course of his 
talk showed me that he was well acquainted with 
America, and followed the march of events there 
better, I fear, than do many Americans in Paris. 

" To-day all the flags are flying, and Belgrade is 
as gay as if for some great victory, but it is only 
to welcome the proclamation of war, and to ex- 
press its delight at the march of the Prince. He 
sets out early in the morning, and in a week we 
shall hear of a fight. The suffering will no doubt 
be great, unless, indeed, the Turks kill all the 
wounded, as they had a habit of doing in Herze- 
govina. I hope the ladies of the West will con- 

58 



A MEMOIR 

tribute something in the way of hospital stores. 
Such things will be useful to both sides. . . ." 

He arrived in Constantinople at the moment 
when the attention of the civilised world was 
being drawn to the condition of Bulgaria, where 
the Turks had made an insignificant insurrection 
the pretext for a savage onslaught on the Chris- 
tian population. The effort made by the Great 
Powers in 1856 to ameliorate the condition of the 
Christian subjects of Turkey, had had no result. 
The reforms and privileges granted by the Sultan 
Abdul Medjid had never been carried out. This 
delay and the consequent unjust treatment of the 
Christians by government officials, together with 
the almost daily acts of murder and violence com- 
mitted by the Mussulman population, had caused a 
series of feeble and abortive insurrections. Mean- 
time, however, a system of national education was 
making progress, owing in great part to the ex- 
ertions of the Americans; and in 1871 the inde- 
pendence of the Bulgarian Church was re-estab- 
lished. With the gradual spread of education, a 
greater national feeling grew up, and the tyranny 
of the Mussulman rulers became still harder to 
bear. Still, no real agitation was carried on in 
the country until 1875, when the prevailing dis- 

59 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

content assumed a more organized form, and 
an insurrection was planned, with the object of 
making a sufficiently formal demonstration to 
compel the Porte to pay some attention to the 
demands of the people. Apparently there was 
no idea of making any real opposition to the 
Turks. The people were without arms and un- 
accustomed to their use. After the day for the 
intended rising had been fixed, the chiefs resolved 
to defer it; but, owing to the miscarriage of a 
letter, one district remained ignorant of the post- 
ponement. Accordingly, about a hundred men of 
this region, armed with old muskets, sticks, and 
clubs, left their villages and went towards the 
Balkans. They were overtaken, some of them 
were killed and the rest imprisoned. Many more 
arrests were made and a number of persons 
remained for many months in prison without 
trial. 

After this, it was resolved to see what could be 
done by petitioning the Sublime Porte. Many 
petitions were received at Constantinople, but no 
attention was paid to them. On May i, 1876, 
another premature and partial insurrection took 
place. It was a very insignificant affair, but it 
caused a panic among the Turks, who spread the 

report that the Russians were coming. Aziz 

60 



A MEMOIR 

Pasha, the mutessarif of Philippopolis, who had 
been a good governor, and was hated by the 
Turks, for being, as they thought, too favour- 
able to the Christians, found himself powerless 
to prevent the arming of the Mussulman popu- 
lation and the formation of companies of bashi- 
bazouks, a term which signifies simply irregular 
troops, either infantry or cavalry. Aziz Pasha 
was superseded in a few days by Abdul Hamid 
Pasha, a man who did nothing to restrain the 
barbarities which followed. Meantime the regu- 
lar troops, for which Aziz Pasha had telegraphed, 
were arriving on the scene, so that there was 
no excuse for arming the population. Scenes 
of horror followed. Near and accessible as the 
region was, it was weeks before the outside world 
began to learn what was taking place, and then 
the reports came chiefly through American mis- 
sionaries and the professors and students of Rob- 
ert College. These reports were discredited, and 
feeling ran high against those who disseminated 
them. It was then rumoured that the Porte in- 
tended to close the American schools and send 
the missionaries out of the country. The British 
Ambassador, Sir Henry Elliot, as is well known, 
refused to give any credence to the stories and 
did what he could to belittle them. Dr. Wash- 

61 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

burn, the President of Robert College, and Dr. 
Long, then a professor in the college, but for- 
merly a missionary and stationed during seven 
years in Bulgaria, placed in his hands much docu- 
mentary and other evidence of the treatment to 
which the Bulgarians had been subjected, asking 
that he would use his influence in their behalf. 
However, the Ambassador did not appear to think 
the evidence of sufficient importance or authen- 
ticity to communicate to his Government, and re- 
turned the documents. The correspondent of the 
London Daily News adopted a statement pre- 
pared by Dr. Long, and it appeared in that paper, 
on June 23, 1876. This statement startled and 
aroused the people of England, but the Govern- 
ment was unwilling to take any notice of it. 
Meantime a Turkish Commissioner sent by the 
Porte into Bulgaria denied every accusation of 
cruelty on the part of the Turks, and represented 
them as the victims of Christian ferocity; and the 
British Government apparently preferred to be- 
lieve the Turkish side of the story. However, 
Lord Derby requested Sir Henry Elliot to send 
one of his officials into Bulgaria to inquire and 
report. He sent Mr. Walter Baring, one of the 
secretaries of the Embassy, who started on July 
19th; and at the same time the Ambassador re- 

62 



A MEMOIR 

ported to Lord Derby that the statements as to 
the atrocities had been taken chiefly from infor- 
mation furnished by the American missionaries. 
At this crisis the United States Minister was glad 
to avail himself of Mr. Schuyler's willingness 
to be sent to Bulgaria to investigate the out- 
rages. 

To Miss King. 
"Constantinople, July 21, 1876. 
" . . . I am to start to-morrow on an errand 
which is difficult, if not dangerous. No doubt 
you have heard something already of the fright- 
ful atrocities perpetrated in Bulgaria by the 
bashi-bazouks and Circassians. The English af- 
fect to disbelieve the reports and call them exag- 
gerated. The British Ambassador even defends 
the acts of the irregular troops as just reprisals. 
I have therefore been strongly urged to go to 
Bulgaria and make an official report to our Gov- 
ernment on the actual state of things. My mis- 
sion is nominally to see about the establishment 
of vice-consulates. I am armed with vizerial let- 
ters, so that the governors will try to give me 
protection, but I fear that they will put all sorts 
of difficulties in my way, to keep me from seeing 
the calamities and distress of the poor peasants. 
I mean, however, to give my guard the slip and 
penetrate into the country. I have with me a 
secretary and an interpreter who speaks Bulgarian 

63 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

as well as Turkish, an educated young man from 
Robert College, an American institution here. I 
hope to come back alive, though I must admit 
that I run some risk — and what is more, I hope to 
bring back irrefragably proved facts which will 
show to the civilised world what sort of a Gov- 
ernment is this of England's protege in the East. 
" I went yesterday to the Commencement of 
Robert College up at Roumele Hissar, one of the 
most picturesque places on the Bosphorus. I am 
glad to say that here is one form of missionary 
enterprise with which I can thoroughly sympa- 
thise. It was founded, however, not entirely by 
missionaries, but by a merchant of New York, 
and the men who teach there forswear any con- 
nection with religious propaganda and devote 
themselves exclusively to education. . . ." 

He started July 23d, and was joined later by 
Prince Tseretelef, of the Russian Embassy. Mr. 
MacGahan, correspondent of the London Daily 
News and the New York Herald, and Mr. 
Schneider, of the Kblnische Zeitung, went at the 
same time. Mr. Schuyler says in his report: 

" In going from village to village, I always had 
an escort of two zaptiehs, that being the smallest 
number which the authorities would allow me to 
take. They usually offered me six or ten, and 
would not permit me to travel without zaptiehs, 
on the ground that thev were responsible for my 

64 



A MEMOIR 

safety, as well as that politeness compelled them 
to escort me. The zaptiehs were useful for show- 
ing the road, but they were of slight value for 
purposes of protection, as they would probably 
have run away at the first approach of danger. 

" While paying all proper respect to the authori- 
ties, and being careful to fulfil the necessary for- 
malities of visits, I avoided staying in Turkish 
houses, as I would thus have been prevented from 
having free access to the Bulgarians. I also re- 
fused to allow a guard to be placed at the houses 
where I stayed. 

" I had as an interpreter an educated young 
Bulgarian, Mr. Peter Dimitroff, who, besides his 
own language, understood English and Turkish 
perfectly. I knew sufficient Bulgarian to be able 
to follow the conversations and to be able to con- 
trol what he translated to me. Besides this, I 
had for the most of my journey one and some- 
times two other persons who thoroughly under- 
stood Turkish and Greek — one an Armenian, the 
other a Greek. . . . As I set out with no in- 
tentions either of proving or disproving any asser- 
tion or statement, I shall relate merely what I be- 
lieve to have occurred." 

As a result of the strictest questioning, cross- 
examination, and comparison of statements, he 
found that " the insurgent villages made little or 
no resistance. In many instances they surrendered 
their arms upon the first demand." 
Vol. I.-5 65 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

But both bashi-bazouks and regular troops 
vented their hatred freely upon the whole Chris- 
tian population. It mattered not that the villagers 
surrendered at once. It mattered not even that a 
village (as happened in many cases) had taken no 
part in the insurrection, or that (as in the case of 
Perushtitsa) it had asked the authorities for pro- 
tection against the attacks of a presumably un- 
authorized Mussulman mob. All were subjected 
to the same treatment. Messengers sent out to 
parley with the Turks were almost invariably 
massacred, as were also the hostages retained by 
them. One town, Panagurishta, 



" Was attacked by a force of regular troops, to- 
gether with bashi-bazouks, on the nth of May. 
Apparently no message to surrender was sent. Af- 
ter a slight opposition on the part of the insur- 
gents, the town was taken. Many of the inhabi- 
tants fled, but about 3,000 were massacred, the 
most of them being women and children. 
The ruffians attacked children of eight, and old 
women of eighty, sparing neither age nor sex. 
Old men had their eyes torn out and their limbs 
cut off, and were then left to die, unless some 
more charitably disposed man gave them the final 
thrust. Pregnant women were ripped open and 
the unborn babes carried triumphantly on the 

66 



A MEMOIR 

points of bayonets and sabres, while little chil- 
dren were made to bear the dripping heads of 
their comrades. This scene of rapine, lust, and 
murder was continued for three days, when the 
survivors were made to bury the bodies of the 
dead. The perpetrators of these atrocities were 
chiefly regular troops commanded by Hafiz Pasha. 
The Turks claim and the villagers admit the death 
of fourteen Mussulmans, two of whom were 
women, who were killed with arms in their hands 
during a conflict with a party that refused to sur- 
render to the insurgents." 

The case of Batak was even worse. 

" This village surrendered without firing a shot, 
after a promise of safety to the bashi-bazouks, 
under the demand of Ahmed-Aga, of Burutina, 
a chief of the rural police. Despite his promise, 
the few arms once surrendered, Ahmed-Aga or- 
dered the destruction of the village and an indis- 
criminate slaughter of the inhabitants, about a 
hundred young girls being reserved to satisfy the 
lust of the conqueror before they too should be 
killed. I saw their bones, some with the flesh 
still clinging to them, in the hollow on the hill- 
side, where the dogs were gnawing them. Not a 
house is now standing in the midst of this lovely 
valley. The saw-mills — for the town had a large 
trade in timber and sawn boards — which lined the 
rapid little river, are all burned, and of the 8,000 

67 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

inhabitants not 2,000 are known to survive. Fully 
5,000 persons, a very large proportion of them 
women and children, perished here, and their bones 
whiten the ruins or their putrid bodies infect the 
air. The site of Batak is enough to verify all that 
has been said about the acts of the Turks in re- 
pressing the Bulgarian insurrection. And yet I 
saw it three months after the massacre. On every 
side were human bones, skulls, ribs, and even 
complete skeletons, heads of girls still adorned 
with braids of long hair, bones of children, skele- 
tons still incased in clothing. Here was a house, 
the floor of which was white with the ashes and 
charred bones of thirty persons burned alive there. 
Here was the spot where the village notable, 
Trandafil, was spitted on a pike and then roasted, 
and where he is now buried; there was a foul hole 
full of decomposing bodies; here a mill-dam filled 
with swollen corpses; here the school-house, where 
two hundred women and children, who had taken 
refuge there, were burned alive; and here the 
church and church-yard, where fully a thousand 
half-decayed forms were still to be seen, filling 
the enclosure in a heap several feet high, arms, 
feet, and heads protruding from the stones which 
had vainly been thrown there to hide them, and 
poisoning all the air. 

" Ahmed-Aga, who commanded at the massacre, 
has been decorated and promoted to the rank of 
yuz-bashi." 



68 



A MEMOIR 

At Klissura, among other barbarities, " a newly 
born child was hacked to pieces before the eyes 
of its mother, who was put to death afterward." 

Tussum Bey, who was in command of the band 
which pillaged and destroyed Klissura and sev- 
eral other villages, was, for this exploit, decorated 
with the order of the Medjidie. 

At Petritch the children were put to death 
with fearful tortures. At Viega eight children 
were killed who first had their hands and other 
members cut off. 

Chefket Pasha marched to his native village of 
Boyadjik, and was personally responsible for its 
destruction. This was believed to be an act of 
personal vengeance. As a recompense for his 
conduct, he was named Marshal of the Palace. 

Seventy-five insurgents came out of a monastery 
where they had taken refuge, and surrendered 
themselves. They were unarmed and carried a 
white flag. 

" They were all massacred by order of the Pasha 
commanding, in a most cruel way. Some were 
cut to pieces, others had their limbs cut off or 
long strips of flesh torn from their bodies, and 
others were disembowelled. On arriving at the 
monastery, the troops killed there the mother of 
the Prior, an old woman of eighty. . . . 

69 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

" In the districts to which I paid particular at- 
tention, i.e., those of Philippopolis, Sliven, and 
Tirnova and the neighbouring part of the province 
of Sophia, there were seventy-nine villages wholly 
or partially burned, besides very many pillaged. 
At least 9,000 houses were burned, and taking the 
average of eight to a Bulgarian house, 72,000 
persons were left without roof or shelter. Ac- 
cording to the figures I have given above, 10,984 
persons were killed. Many more were killed in 
the roads, in the fields, and in the mountains, of 
whom there is no record or count, and I think, 
therefore, I am not wrong in estimating the total 
number of killed at about 15,000. Many more 
died subsequently from disease and exposure and 
in prison. . . . 

" I vainly tried to obtain from the Turkish of- 
ficials a list of the outrages which they said were 
committed by the Bulgarians at the beginning of 
the insurrection, but I could hear nothing but 
vague statements, which, on investigation, were 
never proved. . . . 

" The highest number fixed for the Mussulmans 
killed, as stated to me in different places by Mus- 
sulmans, before and during the insurrection, is 
one hundred and seventy-four. ... I was un- 
able to assure myself that more than two Mussul- 
man women have been killed at Panagurishta, and 
these were killed in fight. Neither Turkish women 
nor Turkish children were killed in cold blood. 
No Mussulman women were violated. No Mus- 

70 



A MEMOIR 

sulmans were tortured. No purely Turkish vil- 
lage, with the exception of Urutsi, was attacked 
or burned. No Mussulman house was pillaged; 
no mosque was desecrated." 



To Miss King. 
" Tatar-Bazardjik, August 3, 1876. 
" . . . I don't know whether you'll find this 
place on the map, but it is near the end of the 
railway, a little west of Philippopolis, and the centre 
of the district which suffered most. I returned 
from one excursion yesterday, and start on an- 
other to-day to three villages northward, after 
which I shall return to Philippopolis for a day, and 
shall then visit the region of Yamboli. In my 
last trip I saw a scene of great horror, so fearful 
that I shall not attempt description. I can say 
but little. It was at the village of Batak, which I 
reached after a four hours' hard ride over lovely 
mountains. Here fully six thousand people were 
massacred in cold blood by Ahmed-Aga, after they 
had given up their arms and had made no resist- 
ance. The whole town was burned, and the 
streets and ruins were thickly strewn with skele- 
tons, bones, and skulls, to which in many cases 
the hair still adhered. In the church and church- 
yard there were the unburied remains of fully a 
thousand bodies. But I will not go on. I was 
glad to escape from the fearful sight and equally 
terrible stench. 

7i 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

"This is the worst; I expect to find nothing- 
again so horrible; but on every side it is nothing 
but murder, pillage, and conflagration, attended 
with the most horrible details. The prisons are 
full of victims, and innocent men have been lying 
there three months without even the mockery of a 
trial. Many have been executed, especially priests, 
for the storm raged most severely against priests 
and school-teachers, it being thought that educa- 
tion was at the bottom of this desire for liberty. 

" Everywhere I am besieged by crowds of women 
who wish me to intercede for their husbands, sons, 
and brothers, in prison or condemned to death. 
I can do but little, but if I can believe what I have 
been told, my visit has had a good effect. Very 
many men have been released — one hundred and 
fifty in one day — and executions have stopped for 
the present. 

" There is, of course, no thought of punishing - 
the perpetrators of the massacres; the severity of 
the law is reserved for the innocent villagers ac- 
cused of insurrection against Turkish injustice. 

' The condition of these poor peasants is now 
terrible. The Turks took all their cattle, and re- 
fuse to restore them, and they are therefore un- 
able to draw wood to rebuild their houses, or to 
reap and sell their crops, which are abundant. In 
addition to this they are afraid to go into the 
fields lest they be murdered. There is urgent 
need of relief, and I hope it will be possible to 
raise a fund for them by public subscription. 

7* 



A MEMOIR 

" Were it not for the horrors this journey would 
be a pleasant one, for the country is lovely. The 
valley of the Maritza is rich and well cultivated, 
and the Balkans form picturesque groups and 
ranges. Philippopolis is finely situated on three 
rocky hills rising out of the plain, and Adrianople 
has some splendid architectural remains, and 
boasts a mosque finer than that at Constantinople. 
I should like to go farther up into the mountains 
and see some of the monasteries, to visit the rose- 
gardens which produce the famous attar, and see 
the people where they are happy and prosperous. 
As it is, I am rather over-worked, for I have to 
rise at five and hear complaints, examine witnesses, 
talk to the Turkish officials, or ride until late in 
the evening. And all this in very hot weather. 
I sometimes feel as if I were gradually melting 
away. I hope that the results of my work will 
repay for the trouble and difficulty. How I wish 
that all these hideous scenes were past. . . . 
Yours ever, 

Eugene Schuyler." 

To J. S. Fiske. 
" Philippopolis, Saturday Evening. 
" Things are prospering, but I find harder work 
than I anticipated. . . . 

" In the evening, Baring, who had just returned 
from a tour, came to see me. I liked him — and 
my first impressions have been confirmed by what 
I have seen since. . . . 

73 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

" Thursday was a day of horror. Calls, work, 
the Konak, the courts, and the sight of a priest 
hung in the street. My every movement is beset 
with wretched Bulgarian women and children 
pleading for the life and liberty of their husbands 
and fathers. Then I went through the prisons — 
crowded, but clean — prisoners fed on bread and 
water — many petitions. In all a horrid and un- 
comfortable day. As to outrages — I am burning 
with indignation and rage — can scarcely contain 
myself. There may be exaggerations, but it is 
sufficiently horrible. Lowest estimate of Chris- 
tians killed 12,000, highest of Turks killed two 
hundred and thirty, of whom thirty women, but 
no death of Mussulman woman or child has been 
proved to me. . . . 

" Friday. — Went to Kutshura and Perushtitsa, 
the latter all destroyed. Sat in the church-yard 
still smelling of putrid blood and heard the fearful 
tale — about 1,000 killed there. . . . 

Yours ever, 

E. S." 

To J. S. Fiske. 
" Slivno, August 14, 1876, Monday Evening. 
"... Since leaving Philippopolis, I have done 
little except save two men from a hanging, and 
investigate. We arrived at Yamboli Friday even- 
ing, having increased our train by Prince Tsere- 
telef, of the Russian Embassy, his cavass and ser- 
vant. Saturday we investigated very thoroughly 

74 



A MEMOIR 

Boyardjik, which was wilfully and unnecessarily 
burned by Chefket Pasha (since made Marshal of 
the Palace), and where about two hundred people 
were massacred. On returning we had to dine 
with the Mutessarif of Slivno, Haider Bey, who 
was there on a visit. He is, I think, the best 
Turk I have seen, and tries to do well. Yesterday 
morning we came here on horseback in four hours. 
This is a charming place, unpillaged, but we have 
been drowned with deputations and investigations. 
To-morrow we cross the Balkans, and on Wednes- 
day night shall be at Tirnova. After a day there 
we go to Gabrovna to investigate the forty-one 
destroyed villages in that region— then Kazzan- 
lyk, Eski-Saara, and so home. 

"The English left Tirnova to-day, so that we 
shall pass them on the road to-morrow. 

" As to the two men, I met them on the train 
which brought me to Yamboli, heavily ironed and 
to be hung the next morning at Slivno. I imme- 
diately telegraphed to Maynard, Tseretelef did the 
same to his Embassy. I then told the Governor 
what I had done and that he would be responsible 
if the men were hung before an answer came from 
Constantinople. Immediate postponement, and to- 
day telegram, saying : ' Orders have been given 
to stop all executions for political offences, which 
accidentally had not before been communicated.' 
The two men were to be imprisoned in chains for 

life. 

" The result, great increase of our influence, and 

75 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

Umbessarif, who returned to-day, very frank and 
cordial. . . . 

" Everything leads me to think that I have been 
doing much good, but I am quite cut off from the 
world. . . ." 

From Philippopolis, on August 10, 1876, Mr. 
Schuyler sent a preliminary report to his Chief, 
which was published while he was still in Bulgaria. 

This report exceeded the very worst that had 
been told by the missionaries. Written as an of- 
ficial document by the Consul-General and Secre- 
tary of Legation of the United States, a man who, 
although friendly to Russia, had exposed Russian 
misrule in Asia, and who was moreover noted for 
his accuracy, it had an instantaneous and tre- 
mendous effect throughout Europe, and particu- 
larly in England. The Turks were probably not 
wrong in considering him in a large measure 
responsible for the war with Russia. 

From Moncure D. Conway. 

"Hamlet House, Hammersmith, London, 
September 21, 1876. 

" My Dear Schuyler: . . . I should indeed 

have written to you before — several times — if I 

had been sure of my letters overtaking you in 

your wanderings, simply to tell you how (person- 

76 



A MEMOIR 

ally) I glory in the admirable service you have 
been doing, and how (Americanly) proud I am that 
our Consul-General should be on hand to step in 
where European diplomacy faltered, to direct and 
determine the path of the storm, to sweep away 
the refuge of lies. That refuge England mainly 
has protected, but will protect no more. This 
whole kingdom has resolved itself into a meeting 
of indignation which is in session day and night, 
and the ministry must bend or break. At each of 
these meetings a resolution of thanks is offered to 
you, and if you were recognized walking in the 
street, you would be followed by a shouting crowd. 
I wish your letter had reached me fourteen hours 
sooner, for I should have had it in my pocket 
when addressing a meeting of 1,500 people, who 
gathered in South Place Chapel to protest. The 
house was crammed to overflowing. I gave them 
some account of you and your service in the 
Khokand expedition, and circumstances of your 
transfer to Constantinople, all of which was re- 
ceived with loud cheering. The Americans have 
hardly had time yet to get the full hang of mat- 
ters, but the next mail will bring tidings of ex- 
citement there. . . . 

" Wife comes in to remind me (which I didn't 
need) to tell you that when you next come to 
London we shall have an old English mansion 
with plenty of room to entertain you and a billiard- 
table for your amusement, after the long, ugly 
tragedy in which you have been bearing a part. 

77 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

When you find a chance for a private rest and 
armistice of your own, do think of London — where 
you will find a thousand friends where you had 
one or two before. . . . 

Ever yours, 

M. D. Conway." 

From Edward A. Freeman. 

" SOMERLEAZE, WELLS, SOMERSET, 

September 27, 1876. 

" My Dear Sir : I am happy to be able to send 
another sum, £439 7s., for the Bulgarian sufferers. 
I am sure there is no one to whom it can be so 
well intrusted as to you who have done so much 
for the cause. I have now sent the following 
sums. . . . 

" The English people are roused as they never 
were roused before within my memory. They 
commonly go right whenever the real facts are 
set before them, and this time, thanks to you and 
the Daily News, the real facts have been set before 
them. Everybody agrees that Baring's report, 
with all his wrigglings to excuse the Turk, sub- 
stantially confirms you and D. N. 

" Believe me yours faithfully, 

Edward A. Freeman." 

The following letters are taken almost at ran- 
dom from many similar ones: 

"Excellence: Les mines de nos eglises, de 
nos ecoles, et celles de nos habitations, les mal- 

78 



A MEMOIR 

heureux qui trainent dans nos rues et pleurent 
leur vie, et, le petit nombre des detenues qui palis- 
sent encore dans les prisons sont des traces et des 
souvenirs affreux qui nous font fondre le coeur a 
chaque instant. Toutes ces traces seront effaces 
et grace a votre bonte et a la peine que vous 
prenez pour nous tout sera oublie. Mais, il est 
trop penible, il est grand malheur pour nous 
lorsque ces choses se prolongent et trainent leur 
chemin longtemps envers nos detenus. Notre 
desir le plus grand est d'en finir un moment plus 

tot. 

" Grace aux secours qui vont arriver de l'etran- 

ger nos etablissements seront releves et nos mal- 
heureux consolles nous l'esperons bien; mais que 
faire de ces detenus qui sont encore dans les 
prisons. La plupart d'eux ne sont pas interroges 
et tous ils ne savent pas pourquoi on les retient et 
jusqu'a quand on les retiendra. Chacun de ces 
detenus a sa famille et toutes ces families sont a 
la discretion de toutes espece de souffrances : Feu, 
fer et des voles innombrables nous ont epuises et 
la plupart des survecus sont laisses nus et sans 
aucuns ressources. De plus il faut penser que 
l'hiver approche a grand pas. 

" Vous avez fait beaucoup pour nous, vous nous 
avez rendu de grands services a nous, et, nous ne 
pouvons que de vous en etre reconnaissants jusque 
ce que un Bulgare existe sur la terre. Apres tant 
du bien que vous nous avez fait, veuillez encore 
avoir la pitie pour quelques malheureuses families, 

79 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

veuillez faire lacher nos quatorze detenus qui se 
trouvent a Philiple, et dont cibas sont leurs noms. 
Apres tant des pertes que notre village a subits, 
la liberie de ces detenus lui fera gagner beaucoup; 
le village entier en sera consolle et soulage infine- 
ment. Les noms des detenus: Neivro Stoyanoff 
(pretre), Pintcho Stoytchoff, Stoyan Troptchoff, 
Pavel Simonoff, Rad Nicoloff, Na'iden Stoyanoff, 
Peyo Stoyanoff, Mazine Dettchoff, Gueorgui 
Neytchoff, Evan Marinoff, Petro Radoff, Pavel 
Nicoloff, Thoma Stoyoff, Sto'iko Stoyanoff. 

" Apres tout cela et surtout la bonte et la bien- 
veillance qui vous font distinguer le plus nous font 
esperer que vous daignerez accueuiller favorable- 
ment la demande que nous avons l'honneur de vous 
adresser. 

" Agreez nos reconnaissances perpetuelles at nous 
sommes Excellence vos serviteurs les plus humbles 
vous remerciant d'avance : 

Le 28 Septembre 1876. 

Panaguiourichte 
(Otlou-Veni). 

Signatures des villageois : 

(Thirty-nine signatures, not decipherable.) " 

"Honorable Sir: There are in Dear-Bekir, 
as you know well, many exiled Bulgarians, for 
political causes, who were free to live in the town, 
and gain their daily bread with their labour. 

" Some of those Bulgarians before eight months 
being in a state of despair, as it seems, escaped 

80 



A MEMOIR 

from that city. The remaining were then more 
rigorously confined, for the sole reason that some 
of their co-sufferers escaped without their knowl- 
edge. 

" My brother, Christo Illitch, one of those exiled 
at that place, writes to me that they heard, with 
great pleasure and gratitude, that you, Honorable 
Sir, hearing about their misfortunes, you had the 
kindness to speak in their favour before the Gov- 
ernment, asking they should be let loose so that 
they may earn their daily food by their labour. 

" But, unfortunately, they are kept in prison still, 
and almost all of them suffer from the dampness 
of the place and from the climate. 

" I take the liberty to announce all those and to 
beg you most humbly to help them in any way 
possible, and I will with them glorify your well- 
doings, as they are glorified by the whole Bul- 
garian nation. 

" I have the honor to be, Honorable Sir, 

" Your most respectful and obedient servant, 

Stef. Illitch. 

Constantinople, 16 Decembre 1876. 
To the Honorable Mr. Eug. Schuyler, etc., etc., 
Pera." 

On his return to Constantinople he found himself 
almost overwhelmed with work, which poured in 
upon him from every direction. Not the least 
important item was the preparation of his formal 

Vol. I.— 6 8l 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

report, to which the one already published had 
been merely preliminary. 

" My report is not yet finished and takes much 
time and thought, for I labour to be strictly accur- 
ate, and to meet all the objections which will cer- 
tainly be brought against it. 

" Mr. Baring has been sent again to Bulgaria to 
diminish his statements, but from what I hear he 
feels more inclined to strengthen them." 

In the midst of this excitement his book on 
Central Asia appeared and went rapidly through 
several editions. He writes of it: 

" In one sense, I regret that my book should be 
untimely for the Russians and be used against 
them in the Eastern matter, but in another I do 
not, for it is some evidence of my impartiality. 
Mr. Boker wrote to me from St. Petersburg that 
the only objection to my book in the Censor's 
office was a light remark about Catherine II. (vol. 
ii., p. 93), but that at last even this passed. 
Speaking of Petersburg, I feel that I should like 
to see my friends there again, and at the same time 
I feel so happy that I am not there. I began to 
detest that life of dining out and card-playing and 
uselessness. Here I have ten times the real 
leisure I had there, and do ten times the work. 
But I fear there must be a change even here. The 
Embassies have all come back to town, and that 

82 



A MEMOIR 

will necessitate calls — to say the least. If there 
should be a conference with the foreign delegates 
that are suggested, there must be dinners, soirees, 
and waste of time. Such things always attract me 
and generally bore me." 



From G. H. Boker. 

" Legation of the United States, 
St. Petersburg, October 26, 1876. 

" My Dear Schuyler: . . . It gave me great 
pleasure to read in the Times that your work has 
already reached a second edition, and bids fair to 
go through many more before its ' run ' is over. 
I have not as yet received my copy of the book, 
after which I have been hankering, although 
your volumes are for sale at the English book- 
shop, where I have seen them with longing eyes. 
The people at that shop told me a queer story 
about your book, when they were attempting to 
get their copies through the Custom-house with- 
out the dreadful chasms of black ink with which 
our Censor so lavishly and artistically has orna- 
mented the pages of other volumes. It seems 
that the embellishing official hung over your 
book, paint-pot in hand, for a half hour, revolving 
your literary atrocities in his mighty mind. He 
said that he did not care one damn about all that 
you had said of Kaufmann, nor of the misdeeds 
and the horrors perpetrated by the Russians in 
Central Asia; all that might go scot-free; but that 

83 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

story about the Empress Catherine was more than 
he could stand! What do you think of that for 
loyalty to an Empress whose hot bones must now 
be bleaching upon the roaring shores of Hell, if 
there be any use in such an institution? Finally 
the stern Censor softened, having convinced him- 
self that Catherine would either hear nothing or 
care nothing about the scandal, and your book 
was permitted to enter without a single blemish 
upon its fair pages. I suspect that you owe this 
indulgence to the immense popularity which you 
have attained in Russia because of your Bulgarian 
Report. 

" Never was St. Petersburg so deserted of all 
kinds of people, official and unofficial, as it is just 
now. . . . It is impossible to get a word of 
news out of De G., so that all that I can send to 
the Department is but a rehash of the newspapers, 
and my own feeble and unguided speculations. 
So far, by being very cautious and making my 
predictions capable of almost any interpretation, 
I have kept my foot out of the fire, and, read by 
the light of the future, my despatches will seem 
ridiculous to no one so much as to myself. 

" Socially things are just as you left them. We 
have the same round of dinners and of whist- 
parties as those at which you assisted, the only 
recruits to our circle being Mrs. Scott and Mrs. 
Boker, who seem to look on with wonder at the 
placid manner in which we all bear one another's 
stupidity. ... Of course we often discuss you 

84 



A MEMOIR 

and your late history, and as I have yet to hear 
ventured a single word of disfavour, even by your 
Turk-loving friends at the British Embassy, I am 
beginning to think that you are an extraordinary 
man, and that you must have left a deal of affec- 
tion behind you, inasmuch as no abuse has yet 
burst forth from a flaw in any one's friend- 
ship. . . . 

" With my best wishes, I am 

Yours very sincerely, 

Geo. H. Boker." 



To Mrs. Schaeffer. 
"Constantinople, November 15, 1876. 

" My Dear Evelyn : . . . I cannot help 
being amused at what is said about me. Even 
the Tribune, in a review of my book, calls me a 
' man of singular courage.' Why, I am as tim- 
orous as a cat about some things — precipices, for 
instance. I don't know that I have any courage, 
except for saying disagreeable things, and that is 
apt to be called impudence. You ought to see a 
picture of me that appeared in a Vienna paper. I 
keep it to prevent my growing vain, for it is de- 
testably ugly. . . . 

" I am fearfully busy. Just now I am getting 
up a Constitution for Bulgaria. General Ignatief 
is to present it at the Conference, and as Russia 
threatens to fight unless she gets what she wants, 
I am anxious to make it a good one. . . ." 

85 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

His work on the Constitution was interrupted 
by a visit to Bulgaria. 

" I hope to come back with material enough to 
support their case before the assembled diplomatic 
wisdom. . . . My full report of the Massacres 
was finished to-day, and I flatter myself it is com- 
plete and unattackable. 

" One of the commissions I have in Bulgaria is 
to bring back with me twenty little she-orphans, 
aged from seven to twelve, for adoption in Russia. 
Imagine my doing it ! " 

The Turks objected to his going back to Bul- 
garia, and refused, under various pretexts, to give 
him a travelling pass, so he took the risk of going 
without one, merely saying that they would be 
held responsible if anything happened to him; an 
act which certainly required the courage which he 
disclaimed. However, when he wanted to do a 
thing he did it. 

To Miss King. 

" Philippopolis, November 28th. 
" . . . Don't think from my heading that I 
am in the midst of horrors. On the contrary — I 
find things much better than I expected. A cer- 
tain amount of security is restored to the country, 
which gives me the hope that reforms could be 
carried out without new massacres. In my opinion 

86 



A MEMOIR 

much will depend on the punishment of some of 
the leaders of the bashi-bazouks. The commission 
is slowly considering their cases, but is, I think, 
waiting to see the result of the conference, and to 
know whether to punish or to liberate. 

" I have visited two of the burned villages, and 
find that the Turks have really done something in 
the way of rebuilding — much more than I ex- 
pected. It amuses me however to see the credit 
they take to themselves for this, and that they 
offer it as proof of their humanity. If all Europe 
had not cried out, nothing of the kind of course 
would ever have been done. The Relief Com- 
mittees are on the whole doing very well. Lady 
Strangford is working admirably and with great 
pluck and perseverance. She has gone to Batak 
to establish some English nurses in the hospital 
built there. 

" Our Relief Committee at Philippopolis is, I am 
happy to say, very successful and has in its way 
done more good than any of the others. It de- 
votes itself solely to the relief of widows and or- 
phans. I visited the asylums and saw those who 
live there. They all look well, clean, and com- 
fortable. The children are bright and all go to 
school. ... I came up here partly to establish 
a Vice-Consul, but I find that at the last moment 
my nominee refuses, from patriotic motives, be- 
cause he doesn't wish to protect the missionaries 
or to be mixed up in their affairs. And I don't 
know whom else to name. By the way, d'lstria, 

87 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

the French Vice-Consul, is acting splendidly. He 
is the president of our Relief Committee and is 
working hard, and besides has great trouble with 
the authorities to secure the punishment of the 
murderers of two Frenchmen during the troubles. 
" I shall have to carry this letter back to Constan- 
tinople myself, but I don't know when it will be. 
I came by the last train, as there has been a flood 
which has washed away the railway, and no trains 
have yet got through. I am anxious to get back, 
because I have some work for the Conference, and 
because the Porte, not content with refusing me 
permission to come here, has taken occasion to 
abuse me well in the journals and to accuse me of 
everything under the sun. Under such circum- 
stances, I think my presence desirable; then, too, 
I have done what I had to do and have got the in- 
formation I desired." 



" To Eugene Schuyler, Esq., Consul-General of the 
United States in Constantinople. 

" Sir : We gladly avail ourselves of the oppor- 
tunity afforded by your second visit to our town 
to tender you our most heart-felt thanks for your 
services to Bulgaria. No nation has ever con- 
tracted such a debt of gratitude towards the disin- 
terested defenders of truth as we have done towards 
you and the noble band of your fellow-workers. 
To all of them we are deeply indebted, but we 
cannot forget, Sir, that it was only when the 

88 



A MEMOIR 

weight of your name was added to the reports of 
our misfortunes which reached England, that that 
explosion of feeling broke out which has saved a 
nation and marked an epoch. Be good enough to 
accept our thanks and the expression of our hope 
that you will continue in the future also those 
labours on behalf of the Bulgarians which have al- 
ready earned for you their eternal gratitude. 

" On behalf of the Bulgarians of Philippopolis, 
The President of the Diocesan Council, 
A. Enuceron Sessbeiciu. 

Philippopolis, November H. 1876." 

Meantime Mr. Schuyler was experiencing some 
of the annoyances which beset the champion of 
an unpopular cause. Outside of Turkey he had 
become famous and popular, but naturally he was 
hated by the Turks, and still more by English 
society, which, as he said, " is assuring each other 
that I am a little devil incarnate." 

" I amuse myself greatly in making the acquaint- 
ance of some of the English residents. They are 
all more Turkophile than the Turks, and have 
most horrible ideas about me — without knowing 
me — call me a Russian spy, a Turkenfresser, say I 
had no business to come here and meddle, etc., etc. 
They milden down a little when they find I am 
mild and peaceable-looking, and don't abuse them 
up and down as soon as I am introduced. Some 

89 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

of them, I think, positively hated me. The Eng- 
lish here — to explain this — are either Levantines, 
or are connected in some way with the Govern- 
ment (Turkish), and therefore their duty and 
their interest both make them love the Turks. 
Then the English Embassy has so long been 
Turkophile that it has given the tone to the Eng- 
lish society that revolves — even distantly — around 
the Embassy. Among the merchants, who have 
no social relations with the Embassy, the feeling is 
very different. I have no doubt that with a new 
Ambassador of different ideas, the tone would be 
soon changed to meet the exigencies of the 
time." 

The representatives of the Powers assembled at 
Constantinople early in December. It was hoped 
that the Porte would be induced to grant certain 
guarantees for the protection of the oppressed 
provinces and that war would be averted. The 
Conference, however, was destined to be a failure. 
Emboldened by the moral support of England, the 
Porte refused, in the end, to accede to the require- 
ments of the Powers. 

" Lord Salisbury is expected to arrive to-day. 
Chaudordy is here. . . . The English have 
asked many of their Consuls to come and give in- 
formation. Mr. White has come down from Bel- 
grade. He was so polite to me there and is such 

90 



A MEMOIR 

a charming man that I was delighted to see him. 
He dined with me last night. The Austrians have 
sent as their representative Calice, who is only 
Consul-General at Bucarest. Count Zichy, the 
Ambassador, is furious. Plenty of other people 
come too — especially correspondents, many of 
them recommended to me. . . . 

" A letter from the Russians telling me I must 
work harder and come after lunch and help finish 
the Bulgarian Constitution. . . . 

"December 7th. — To-day I have had to do a 
disagreeable duty. I went to the Central Relief 
Committee to protest against Mr. (an Amer- 
ican missionary) reading the Bible and praying in 
the Hospital at Batok. I have no especial objec- 
tions to this myself, but the Committee agreed to 
do nothing sectarian, and the Bulgarians decidedly 

object to Mr. 's proceedings as an attempt to 

proselytise them. We must respect their scruples, 
especially when they are in such difficulties. . . . 

" Since Lord Salisbury has arrived, things look 
more peaceful. He seems inclined to come to 
terms with the Russians — far more than Elliot is. 
Mme. Ignatief goes into raptures over Lady Salis- 
bury, etc." 

" Constantinople, December 12th. 
"... The Bulgarian Constitution is done 
and has been accepted by Salisbury as the basis 
of discussion. I think it will get through with- 
out a great many modifications, and what I am 

9* 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

chiefly interested in is that Bulgaria be left as a 
unity, instead of being divided into several sepa- 
rate provinces. . . ." 

To Miss King. 
" Constantinople, December 19, 1876. 

" . . . It begins to look now as though the 
Conference would soon be over. Everyone has 
been calculating on several weeks yet of talk, but 
a sudden desire of conciliation seems to have 
taken hold of all the members, and they have so 
nearly agreed that they hope to present their plans 
to the Turks on Saturday. It is to be hoped that 
no chance will be given to the Turks for discus- 
sion, but that they will be forced to say either yes 
or no. Otherwise the Conference will be apt to 
last all winter, for the Turks are fertile in delays 
and apt at procrastination. . . . 

" Did I tell you that we had been to St. Sophia 
at last — the most wonderful church that ever I 
saw? I am trying at last to see some of the sights. 
. . . We find that there are thirty-six old Greek 
churches left — all but four of which are mosques — 
and we hope to see them all or perish in the at- 
tempt. I must have something for relaxation, 
especially as I am thinking of beginning another 
book. By the way, do you know that ' Turkistan ' 
has reached its fifth edition in England and its 
second in America? Did I tell you that I have 
been elected to the Royal Geographical and Royal 
Asiatic Societies (English) in consequence? . . ." 

92 



A MEMOIR 
Diary. 

"Pera, January I, Monday, 1877. 
"... After lunch went out for New Year calls 
and cards. Met Mr. White (English Agent, Bel- 
grade) in the street, who told me affairs were look- 
ing very critical. Found Sala 1 at home, and had 
a little talk with him, and afterwards with Campbell 
Clarke. Both are immensely disgusted with the 
Daily Telegraph for not printing or misprinting 
letters and telegrams, and for taking such an ab- 
surdly wrong tone in opposition to all the facts. 
Sala says Arnold, who is the chief leader writer, 
' is bitten by the Oriental tarantula,' fears for 
India, dreads Russia, etc., etc. 

" After dinner went to a soiree at General Igna- 
tief's. Even Lady and Miss Elliot were there. 
Lord Salisbury said to me : ' Well, you see, they 
are sending us away sooner than we expected.' 
We had some little talk, in which d'Ehrenhoff 2 
and afterwards Tseretelef joined. I told of the 
farcical elections at Salonica, and then of Chefket 
Pasha. D'Ehrenhoff tried to defend the Turks. 
Salisbury was inclined to be a little bitter against 
them. He is evidently impatient of them and 
anxious to get away. After all were gone, I had 
rather a long talk with General Ignatief. He told 
me what had taken place at the Conference, and 
hinted that Elliot and Beaconsfield were trying 
some underhand game to make the Turks obsti- 
nate. I referred to various rumours. He assured 

1 George Augustus Sala. a The Swedish Minister. 

93 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

me Russia had no intention of backing out; that 
all the stories of faults in mobilisation, of illness 
of troops, etc., were all lies. The Grand Duke 
Nicholas had telegraphed to him that evening, 
asking when he could cross the frontier. 

" What happened at the Conference seems to 
have been this: On Saturday (December 30th), 
Turks presented certain counter propositions 
which consisted in brief in accepting a part of the 
provisions for the cantonal administration, another 
Russian project for Bulgaria, and applying them 
to the whole Empire, but leaving out all the rest 
of the project. This proposition was sent in writ- 
ing to General Ignatief about six o'clock Saturday 
evening. Prince Tseretelef sat up most of the 
night making an analysis and criticisms of it. 
This was approved by General Ignatief and copies 
were sent the next day to the other representa- 
tives. A private meeting of members of the six 
powers was held Sunday afternoon at General 
Ignatief's house, and it was decided that the 
Turkish proposition could not be accepted nor 
even discussed. At the meeting on Monday 
therefore Lord Salisbury, as the spokesman of the 
Conference, said to Safvet Pasha that it was im- 
possible for them to discuss the Turkish counter 
proposition. This caused considerable ebullition 
of feeling on the part of the Turkish delegates. 
The question was then asked whether the Turks 
would consider the propositions of the Conference. 
To this Safvet Pasha replied that it would be im- 

94 



A MEMOIR 

possible even to consider them unless many points 
were eliminated. Ignatief said that according to 
his instructions he could not discuss the project at 
all if the Turks had made up their minds to refuse 
certain articles as soon as they were reached. He 
asked what the points were that the Turks wished 
to eliminate. Safvet Pasha enumerated several 
of them, including the gendarmerie, the interna- 
tional commission, the provincial assembly, reform 
of taxes, interference of Powers in appointing the 
Governor-General and other officers, etc. When 
he reached this point Ignatief wrote a few words 
on paper and handed it to Salisbury and with his 
assent said this was a mere farce and waste of 
time. There was no use going farther if the 
Turks eliminated all the propositions which con- 
stituted the merit of the scheme. The Turks then 
refused to discuss the matter further, and General 
Ignatief asked for a firman for a vessel to carry 
him to Odessa. He was followed by Salisbury, 
Zichy, Werther, Chaudordy and Corti. Safvet 
seemed astonished at this situation and said, ' There 
is no necessity for going away,' adding, ' Est-ce 
que r Europe est folle? ' The Conference then broke 
up to meet on Thursday. 

" Tuesday, January 2d. — There was to-day a 
meeting of the Representatives of the Powers at 
General Ignatief's to adopt a line of action to be 
pursued on Thursday. It is not definitely known 
what this is, but it is thought that they have all 
agreed to leave Constantinople as soon as possible 

95 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

after the refusal of the Turks at the next Confer- 
ence. This refusal is considered to be highly 
probable. 

" Wrote to-day to Lawson to say that Daily Tele- 
graph was pursuing a very wrong course, and was 
inciting the Turks to resist and thus provoking 
war. Currie told MacGahan that Lord Salisbury 
felt very much the same way. It is believed here 
that Beaconsfield is inspiring the Telegraph and 
that both he and Elliot are trying to counteract 
Salisbury. Cannot believe this. . . . 

" I am beginning to think that in case of war, 
Russia's policy will be, after beating Turkey well, 
and making the provinces into autonomous states, 
to keep Turkey at Constantinople, and make it a 
very weak power, always subject to Russian influ- 
ence." 

To Miss King. 
" Constantinople, January 2, 1877. 

" . . . We are in turmoil here — political, for it 
looks more like war than ever, and the Conference 
has nearly gone to pieces; — social, for calls and 
cards have to be exchanged with lightning rapid- 
ity. . . . We hardly know here what a day may 
bring forth. Last week everything was peaceful, 
this week everything is warlike and unsettled. The 
Ambassadors are talking of going away, and unless 
the Turks are more yielding next Thursday they 
will. I think Lord Salisbury has fully made up 
his mind not to stand this sort of thing any longer. 
The Turks in one way have not played their cards 

96 



A MEMOIR 

well, for none of the new men seem to love them. 
Sir Henry Elliot is still obdurately fond of them, 
and Baring, who is a good fellow, has no end of 
complaints against him. Well, Elliot is going off 
on leave of absence in any case. 

" I have been nowhere since I wrote last, except 
to make some calls, and last night to a soiree at 
the Ignatiefs'. The outsiders here don't seem to 
entertain this winter, so that one rarely meets 
them. But I am beginning to find that there are 
many pleasant people here, in spite of their senti- 
ments and their political views. I wish they would 
forego my opinions in the same way. Little by 
little, they'll find out that I can criticise the Turk- 
ish administration and still be a respectable mem- 
ber of society. Meanwhile I am reading some old 
English plays and don't trouble myself much about 
them. . . ." 

•' Constantinople, January 12, 1877. 
"... The Conference winds its slow length 
along, astonishing the people who expect to see it 
burst up daily. The Turks are very obstinate, 
and yet manifest signs of giving in. Lord Salis- 
bury is getting furious at them. The rupture be- 
tween him and Elliot is now very open, and both 
sides take little pains to conceal their feelings. 
There would seem to be little doubt that Elliot is 
encouraging the Turks and working against Salis- 
bury. Hints have been given me that Beacons- 
field is doing the same thing. If this be so, a split 
Vol. i.— 7 97 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

in the Cabinet is inevitable as soon as Parliament 
meets, and I think Salisbury will win, for he will 
have part of the Conservatives and all the Liberals 
to back him. The situation is further complicated 
by the attitude of Germany. It appears that Bis- 
marck has given Baron Werther here a sort of 
reprimand for his moderation, and ordered him not 
to give in to the Turks. It is Lord Salisbury's 
opinion that Bismarck, ' for reasons of his own,' 
desires to get Europe into a general war. I think 
those reasons point towards France. The Russians 
seem more yielding than before, but whether it 
comes of unwillingness for war, or whether they 
are trying to lead the Turks on in obstinacy to 
make them fight, it is impossible to say. All I 
know surely is that when the Porte looks like re- 
fusing, Ignatief is very good-humoured, and when 
there seems a chance of arranging matters, he looks 
cross. . . ." 

" Constantinople, January 16th. 
"... My last excitement is being ' medalled.' 
The Prince of Roumania, whose acquaintance I 
made when I was in Bucarest last summer, and 
who seems to be equally — in triangular-wise — im- 
pressed with my ' person ' (so the letter of the Mar- 
shal states), my book, and my Bulgarian report, 
has given me a medal ' Bene Merenti ' — ' distinc- 
tion exclasivement rescrvee a ceux qui ont bien merite 
de rhumanite.' . . . After having satisfied myself 
that a medal is an award, and neither ' an emolu- 

98 



A MEMOIR 

ment, pecuniary favour, office or title,' I have writ- 
ten to say I have accepted. . . ." 

" January 19th. 

"... We had a very pleasant dinner two days 
ago with the wardroom officers of the Vandalia. 
Last night was the last soiree of the Ignatiefs, but I 
didn't feel well enough to go, and shall bid every- 
body good-by at the Greek Minister's to-morrow 
night. It seems settled now that everybody is go- 
ing away on Sunday or Monday. The Turks held 
a great council yesterday, which unanimously re- 
solved to reject the proposals of the Conference. 
The people who feel worst are the Turcophiles. 
They have all along counselled the Porte to resist- 
ance, and now they begin to look at the matter 
seriously, and wonder what will happen. It would 
serve them right if the Turks should turn them all 
out of their places. In the present feeling against 
foreigners this is very possible. 

" Lord Salisbury, in a certain way, regrets the 
failure of his mission, which was to arrange a peace, 
but he has been so much worried with the delays 
and ill-will of the Turks that I think he much prefers 
a definite refusal to any further haggling. The men 
who most sincerely regret the failure of the Confer- 
ence are the French delegates. They wanted peace 
at any price, and would have yielded still more. 
From their point of view — the attitude of Germany 
— they are quite right. Even I would rather have 
Bulgaria wait a little than France attacked. . . ." 

99 
fC. 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

" Constantinople, January 23d. 

"... We are in the midst of a terrible storm, 
which has lasted already for several days, and which 
may last for several more. General Ignatief says: 
1 he temps est- contre nous; notre coup a manque.' 
Lord Salisbury's party got off yesterday, as they go 
by the Mediterranean. But all the rest, who jour- 
ney by the Black Sea, are afraid to voyage in the 
teeth of this north wind. 

" The final refusal of the Turks was on Saturday. 
Sunday evening the protocol was to be signed at 
Count Zichy's, and there was a little soiree d'adieu. 
The Turkish plenipotentiaries did not turn up, 
though they sent no excuses, and the paper had to 
be signed without them. It was a final exhibition 
of spite, which, however, did no one any harm. 
Saturday evening I dined with Count Corti, and 
went afterwards to a pleasant little party at the 
Greek Minister's. Last night Mr. White and Sala 
dined here very quietly. 

" Now for a lull in the political storm and a period 
of rest and work. I have nearly finished my com- 
mercial report, and shall soon be at leisure to take 
up some more pleasant work — editing some old 
travels of Russians in various parts of the world, 
which I promised to do for the Hakluyt So- 
ciety. . . ." 

" January 26th, Friday. 

' The weather is still as bad as bad can be. Not 
only can I not go anywhere, but no one can go any- 
where. Elliot got off yesterday, because he goes 

100 



A MEMOIR 

by the Mediterranean; but the other ambassadors 
are all still here. 

" I got last night my Roumanian medal. It is the 
first class, No. 6, which shows that it is a rarity, and 
may some day be a curiosity. . . ." 

From W. E. Gladstone. 

(Address) 
" 7 Harley Street, London, 
January 29, 1877. 

" My Dear Sir : I thank you very cordially for 
your letter of the 9th. It was a satisfaction to me 
to have the power of reading your report in words 
which, unless as to some possible errors of typog- 
raphy, appear to have had your own sanction. It 
is an appalling document. By its production you 
conferred a great service upon the people of my 
country, if not upon all Christendom. I am glad 
to tell you confidently that this service is known 
and felt all over England. The day before yester- 
day I had to address a public meeting at Taunton, 
one of our small towns in a rural and rather remote 
district. I mentioned your name partly to test the 
feeling and knowledge of a community of this class; 
and I wish you had heard the hearty cheering with 
which it was received. 

" All that has been said about a reaction in the 
national feeling here is so much trash. The people 
do not repent, and will not repent, of their outburst 
in August. The majority of the London news- 
papers are governed by the sentiment of the clubs 

101 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

of the West End. Clubs in the first French Revo- 
lution and in the Italian movement were the organs 
of popular feeling. Now they are the homes of the 
anti-popular sentiment. Of all the great legislative 
measures, which in this country have given name 
and mark to the age, there is not one that has been 
carried by the agency or with the approval of these 
clubs. The question is, whether the present House 
of Commons, which is intensely ministerial, will in 
any tolerable degree answer to the national senti- 
ment. This must remain for a time uncertain. 
But come what may, the people are sound; and in 
due time they will prove it authentically, if they 
have the opportunity. 

" What we want is a steady flow of information on 
all the parts of this great and many-sided question. 
I am gratified with the announcement, then, of 
your further report on Bulgaria, and thankful for 
your promise to send it me. 

" Pray do not be uneasy about the Turkestan 
business. What I wrote has served its purpose and 
stopped the mouth of falsehood. I well knew that 
the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette must reply, and 
must reply by charging me with lying, for he had no 
other weapon. I am content. 1 

" Again expressing my share of gratitude for 
your services to truth, justice, and humanity, and 

1 This refers to Mr. Gladstone's discussion with the Pall Mall Gazette. 
He had used " Turkistan " as an authority, and in reply to a subsequent letter 
of inquiry Mr. Schuyler had been obliged to inform him that he had mistaken 
the meaning of a certain passage in the book. 



102 



A MEMOIR 

heartily wishing that God may prosper all your 
labours, I remain, my dear sir, 

" Most faithfully yours, 

W. E. Gladstone. 
Eugene Schuyler, Esq." 

Meantime the Turkish Minister in Washington 
was doing everything in his power to injure Mr. 
Schuyler, without bringing forward the real griev- 
ance. In an earlier letter the latter had said: "I 
think the Government would be glad to get rid of 
me, but will not dare to say so. It couldn't more 
plainly confess the weakness of its cause." On 
February 16, 1877, he wrote: 

" It seems that the Turks attacked me at Wash- 
ington and accused me of all sorts of things, among 
others putting into my mouth ' that I had come 
here to destroy the Ottoman Empire.' This I was 
supposed to have said at a private dinner-party at 
Adrianople. Mr. Fish gave the Turks a very 
proper answer, and informs me of what they have 
said, to which, of course, my reply is one of the 
easiest." 

About the end of March, writing on the eve of 
a short visit to Athens, he says: 

" Everything now looks very warlike, and Stam- 
boul is in great excitement. It is said that the 
arriero ban has been called out. If there should be 

103 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

war now, it would be entirely the fault of England, 
which pursues a wretched policy under the guise of 
preserving the peace." 

War between Russia and Turkey was declared in 
April, and on May 13th he wrote: 

" The Bosphorus is quiet and lovely, as it was last 
summer; the only sign of war I can see is the greater 
stillness. There are fewer vessels going to and 
coming from the Black Sea. For all else we might 
be in Italy or Corsica. Here no rumour even 
comes nowadays. . . . 

" I had a visit the other day from Yussuf Zia, 
the Member from Jerusalem (doesn't that sound 
strange?), who has made such a sensation in the 
Parliament by his eloquence and boldness. It was 
almost dinner-time, but I nerved myself for a long 
Turkish call with stupid compliments and a great 
deal of ennui. To my astonishment the Member 
from Jerusalem spoke English and French very 
well, and the conversation became lively. Yussuf 
Zia was almost as liberal as a French Republican, 
both in politics and religion. Though a Mussul- 
man, he lives by preference here in a Greek convent. 
He inveighed in no measured terms against the 
Sultan, the corrupt officials, and the Turks in gen- 
eral. That is not unnatural, for he is an Arab, and 
the Arabs don't like the Turks, whom they con- 
temn as a low, coarse race. He particularly object- 
ed to polygamy. He wanted a reformed Islam. 

104 



A MEMOIR 

He thought the Turks had no business in Europe, 
that it was inevitable they would some time be 
forced back to Asia, and that the sooner they went 
there the better. The result was, that, though he 
stayed an hour, I stifled my appetite and was in- 
terested and pleased." 

Shortly after this Mr. Schuyler obtained leave of 
absence and spent several weeks in Paris and ten 
days in London, where he enjoyed some of the 
pleasanter results of the reputation which he had 
acquired by his work in Bulgaria. Hitherto the 
seamy side of fame had been turned towards him. 
His brief letters give some idea of the attention 
which he received. 

" I have had a very busy time of it since I have 
been here. I went last night to the House of Com- 
mons and saw Dilke, Forster, Mundella, and Grant 
Duff. Finally Mr. Gladstone, after eying me a long 
time, came up and presented himself and asked me 
to breakfast. ... I breakfasted to-day with Sir 
Charles Hartley, breakfast to-morrow with Smalley, 
and dine with Burnaby 1 at the Marlborough 
Club. On Monday I lunch with Mrs. Bruce 2 
from whom I had a charming note. I shall not 
be back till Tuesday, the ioth, as I have promised 

1 Author of " A Ride to Khiva." 

' Bed-chamberwoman of the Queen, and a well-known personage in 
English and Roman society. In her apartment in St. James's Palace 
was the room in which Anne Boleyn spent the last night of her life. 

105 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

to dine with Dilke on Monday — a party for 
me. . . . 

" Sunday. — ... I have just time before din- 
ner to write a line. It has rained all day till now, 
but I have, nevertheless, breakfasted with the 
Smalleys, lunched at the Eustace Smiths', and 
called on several people, including the Milner- 
Gibsons. 

" General Grant did not go to Mr. Motley's fu- 
neral, and Mr. Pierrepont refused to go because Mr. 
Motley had not called on him. 

" Thursday. — ... I am getting very tired of 
all this dissipation, and at the same time I wish I 
could have come here two months ago, because 
then I could have taken it more easily. . . . 
After leaving some cards, I went to the Fourth of 
July reception at the Pierreponts'. Lots of Amer- 
icans; very few whom I knew. I dined quietly 
with Ashton Dilke and wife. Later on I went to 
the Cosmopolitan Club — a peculiar institution 
here — where I saw Dilke, Forster, Spedding, Lord 
Carnarvon, Harcourt, etc., etc. The Comte de 
Paris was also there, but I did not make his ac- 
quaintance. 

" I woke up this morning feeling very wretched, 
but managed to crawl out of bed and go to the 
Gladstones' to breakfast. Both Mr. Gladstone and 
his wife were very amiable. I sat next to Mrs. 
Gladstone. Among the guests were Goldwin Smith, 
Palgrave, Freeman, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
Lord and Lady Frederick Cavendish, etc., etc. 

1 06 



A MEMOIR 

To-morrow night I go to an evening party at Buck- 
ingham Palace, per order. 

" Saturday. — ... I had a very pleasant din- 
ner with Sala last night, and enjoyed the concert 
immensely. Buckingham Palace is prettier than 
I supposed, and the concert-room was very fine. 
The Prince of Wales spoke to me very cordially 
and invited me to come and see him on Sunday, 
at 1.30. The Comte de Paris and wife were there, 
as well as no end of royalties, but not the Queen 
herself. Invitations continue to pour on me from 
all quarters. I almost wish we were coming here 
for a while. 

" Sunday. — ... I have had a day of it. One 
friend came along before I was up, then I had to 
go out and see two men on business, and be at 
Marlborough House at 1.30. The Prince was 
very nice, and did most of the talking, which ran 
over very many subjects. He congratulated me 
on my marriage and inquired who you were. . . . 
He kept me so long that I got late to the Gos- 
selins' for lunch, and found it all eaten up. . . . 
The dinner last night by Gennadius 1 was very 
pleasant. Among the guests was one delightful 
old fellow, General Gore-Browne, who had been 
in Greece at the time of the revolution. I for- 
got to say that yesterday afternoon I was taken to 
see a very charming old lady, the dowager Lady 
Stanley of Alderley. She looks like a picture and 
talks like a book, only better. 

l The Greek Chargi-d' Affaires. 
107 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

" If I can get up early enough to take the tidal 
train on Tuesday, I can be in Paris at five 
o'clock. . . ." 

On July 12, 1877, Mr. Schuyler was married in 
Paris to Miss Gertrude Wallace King, a daughter of 
the late Charles King, of New York, president of 
Columbia College, and granddaughter of the emi- 
nent Rufus King. 



V 

Mr. and Mrs. Schuyler arrived in Constantinople 
towards the end of the summer, going first to Buy- 
ukdere, where they spent the rest of the hot weather. 
There, when consular duties were over for the day, 
they took long walks — always accompanied by a 
cavass and armed with pistols — to " Paradise " and 
the Fountain of Roses, and down along the Chest- 
nut Water. Reading aloud was a favourite amuse- 
ment in "German, French, English, or Italian;" 
but the authors whom they chiefly read at this 
time were Gibbon and Byron. " Byron, especially 
read on the Bosphorus, where you understand the 
allusions and appreciate the truth, strikes one as 
very great; far greater and simpler than I ever 

imagined." 

108 



A MEMOIR 

The house in Pera, to which they went later, 
could not fail to be interesting to a new-comer, with 
its consular offices below, including the court-room 
where the Consul-General dispensed the law, even 
granting divorces, if he chose; the big drawing- 
room above, of which one end was masculine, with 
book-shelves and a large writing-table, and the 
other end feminine, with bric-a-brac and a fire- 
place; and the rooms above screened off with glass 
and making a little apartment by themselves. 
Hitherto a man's household of Montenegrin ser- 
vants (who were so devoted in their attachment 
that if dismissed, their wounded feelings were in 
danger of expressing themselves in a dagger 
thrust), it was now tempered by the French maid, 
whose doubts of Montenegrin tidiness were so 
deep-seated that she went down-stairs and scrubbed 
the kitchen once a week herself. 

This house was a head-quarters for all sorts of in- 
teresting people — the more so, since hospitality was 
almost a passion with its master. His wife used 
to say that getting properly settled in a new house 
was a minor and incidental matter; as soon as the 
necessary housekeeping articles were at hand, they 
had a dinner or a breakfast, and went on having 
breakfasts and dinners from that moment. 

Here, as in Russia, Mr. Schuyler was considered 
109 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

a well-spring of authentic information. Everybody 
who wanted to get at facts, to verify surmises, to 
learn secrets, applied to him, from diplomats to 
newspaper correspondents. The political situation 
was, of course, intensely interesting. On Novem- 
ber 9th he wrote: 

" The situation is more critical here than it has 
been at any time, and yet everybody is very apa- 
thetic. It is believed that Erzeroum is taken, and 
it is known that the Russians are near Trebizond. 
Plevna is thought to be on the point of surrender- 
ing, and the Turkish outlook is everywhere black. 
We think ourselves too on the brink of a domestic 
revolution. Mahmoud Pasha has a fit of apoplexy 
(poison?), and will scarcely survive. Orders were 
given to poison Murad, and his servants refusing, 
were all arrested for high treason. The newspapers 
have just been forbidden to publish news of a char- 
acter likely to excite popular feeling." 

Towards the end of January affairs looked very 
threatening. 

" By the time you get this letter you will prob- 
ably know what has happened to its writer. The 
Russians occupied Adrianople on Sunday; they will 
take Gallipoli to-day; whether they will come to 
Constantinople, a day or two will decide. The 
Circassians, who are far worse, are marching along 

no 



A MEMOIR 

the coast of the Black Sea, burning and pillaging 
as they go. I don't really think we shall be troub- 
led with them, but I fear for Buyukdere and Thera- 
pia. I think their plan is to cross from there into 
Asia. So you see we are surrounded by foes. 
The Turks — I may now say ' poor Turks ' — are 
almost frightened to death, especially the Sultan. 
It is a great break-up." 

In fact, the Sultan was so badly frightened that 
he thought of running away. In that case a revo- 
lution would probably have broken out; and with 
the feeling which prevailed among the Turks, there 
was every reason to fear a general massacre of for- 
eigners. Each of the Powers represented in Con- 
stantinople had two warships in the harbor, but in 
the case of the Schuylers and a few others it would 
have been useless to try to get to them. Any one 
attempting it would have been cut to pieces. A 
plan was therefore arranged by which, in case of an 
outbreak, these persons, after sending their valua- 
bles to the ships, were to collect the Christians of 
the neighborhood and take refuge in the Austrian 
and French Embassies, which stood in adjoining 
grounds, and were there to stand a siege. Mean- 
time the function of the Ambassadors ceasing with 
the cessation of the Government, the consuls were 

to come forward, invite the Russians in, and hand 

in 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

over the keys of the city to them. In view of these 
possibilities, life at the Consulate was sufficiently 
exciting. However, the Sultan decided to stay 
where he was, and by the end of January there was 
talk of an armistice. 

" February i, 18/8. — . . . The general belief 
is, that an armistice has been signed, but nobody 
really knows anything. I have been amused with 

the fear of the Turcophiles. G sent away his 

wife on Wednesday, and Lady T and a lot of 

other people were intending to go to-day. Per- 
haps they feel so sure of peace that they will stay 
now. 

Baker and Burnaby have got back, having ac- 
companied Suleiman Pasha in his retreat to Enos 
and Gallipoli. Baker is sad and quiet. Burnaby 
is full of spirits. 

At present the Russians are at Tcherlow, about 
seventy miles from here, and we suppose them also 
to be near Rodosto, on the Sea of Marmora. Yes- 
terday was lovely, and Gargiulo, James, and I took 
a long walk in Stamboul, amid crowds of refugees 
and Circassians. We went into several mosques, 
which are quite full of wretched people. The dif- 
ference between the Mussulmans over there and the 
Greeks and Bulgarians from Burgas who fill the 
churches here is immense. Here they are bright 
and intelligent looking; there, the reverse; and oh, 
how dirty! 

112 



A MEMOIR 

Diary, 18/8. 

" Wednesday, February 6th. — . . . It is said 
the Russians have advanced and taken Silivria, it 
is supposed by accident. Several Russian officers 
are to arrive to-day or to-morrow at Hotel Royal; 
it is thought to arrange details of neutral zone. 

" Thursday, February ph. — I was startled this 
morning by receiving a package which turned out 
to be from MacGahan, containing letters from him- 
self and Greene, our Military Agent with the Rus- 
sians. MacGahan says he will be here in a few days. 
He wrote from Haden-Keui, the head-quarters of 
Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha, where he had gone with a 
flag of truce with Count Keller, to see why the 
Turks did not evacuate their position. By the 
armistice the Turkish line of fortifications was to be 
evacuated and placed in the neutral zone. The 
Turkish lines run from Tchekmedje to Derkos, close 
to the fortifications. The Turks were to have evac- 
uated their positions by February 6th, but last night 
Ahmed Mukhtar had not received from the Porte 
any instructions and did not know the actual terms 
of the armistice. He asked for three days more to 
remove heavy guns and stores. The mud is fearful. 

" Skobelef's head-quarters are at Tchaldja. The 
Grand Duke's will probably be at Rodosto, and 
Gourko's at Silivria. . . . Chambers is going 
to-morrow to join Greene in Russian lines. Wrote 
by him to MacGahan, and will try to have des- 
patch go for him to Rodosto. . . . 
Vol. I.— 8 113 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

" Saturday, February pth. — . . . Gargiulo 
tells me that Turkish Parliament have refused to 
recognize Ahmed Vefyk as First Minister, on ac- 
count of the unconstitutionality of his appoint- 
ment. Yussuf Zia (Jerusalem) made a violent 
and telling speech. General Mott says Yussuf Zia 
made a very forcible speech Wednesday against 
the Council of State, on account of the Jaffa 
railway. 

" Sunday, February ioth. — . . . The Levant 
Herald issues a supplement, to say the English 
fleet had orders to pass the Dardanelles and come 
to Constantinople to-day. Morloy met me in the 
street, told me the order was countermanded, and 
that the fleet had returned from the Dardanelles. 
It is supposed that the Ministry went crazy on 
finding that the Turkish fortifications here were to 
be evacuated by the Turks in accordance with the 
terms of the armistice. 

" Captain Touchard, of the French Latouche-Tre- 
ville, told me to-night that Layard had a conversa- 
tion with Mouy, the French Charge-d' Affaires, 
about the fleet, and said that his Government tele- 
graphed him that the French fleet would enter with 
the English. Mouy said he thought not; that he 
had telegraphed the real state of things to his Gov- 
ernment, and that there was no necessity for such 
action. Both Mouy and Count Corti, the Italian 
Minister, telegraphed to their respective Govern- 
ments that in the present circumstances it was bet- 
ter not to ask for a firman. 

114 



A MEMOIR 

" The Phare de Bosphore has been publishing some 
very bitter articles on the supposed delimitation of 
Bulgaria, taking an ultra Greek view of Greek rights 
in Thrace and Macedonia. 

" Monday, February nth. — In the afternoon Cap- 
tain Higginson called here officially with Captain 
Haxtun. Then went with Galloway to see St. 
Sophia. About two thousand refugees there, look- 
ing, for the most part, tolerably comfortable. 

" Tuesday, February 12th. — Placards were posted 
this morning on the British Embassay and in the 
surrounding streets : ' Perdue — entre la Bale de Bes- 
ika et Constantinople — une Hotte. Recompense hon- 
nete a ceux qui pourront fournir quelques renseigne- 
mentsJ Other placards said : ' Apply to Mr. Lay- 
ard.' It is understood here that the English Min- 
istry ordered the fleet here, but that when Mr. 
Layard applied for a firman the Porte refused it, on 
the ground of complications, it being thought that 
the Russians would at once occupy Constantinople. 
Layard then telegraphed to Admiral Hornby to 
wait for further orders. 

" Safvet Pasha has started for Adrianople to take 
part in the peace negotiations. 

" In the afternoon I went with the Higginsons to 
make their official calls, and in the evening to tea 
at the Maynards'. Just before I started, MacGahan 
suddenly came in, having returned with General 
Chambers. 1 He says Russians all ready to come 

1 United States military attache with the Turks. 
115 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

to Constantinople, and will come if the British fleet 
comes. They have orders to attack any British 
troops without asking any questions. 

" The fiasco of the British fleet is the general sub- 
ject of laughter everywhere. 

" Owing to the raising of the blockade, many 
ships have already sailed for the Black Sea. 

" Wednesday, February 13th. — MacGahan came 
in and then Pears, and both breakfasted here. Mac- 
Gahan brought me last night a very pleasant letter 
from Tseretelef, with an invitation to come to 
Adrianople. Onore, the first Russian Dragoman, 
came here to-day on some special business from 
Adrianople. 

" According both to MacGahan and Chambers, 
who quotes Greene, the capture of the Shipka pass 
was a fluke, and owing entirely to Skobelef's diplo- 
macy, after both Mirsky and Radetsky had been 
beaten in detail. MacGahan was full of interesting 
accounts of events and people. He has suffered 
much in the campaign, and is very lame with rheu- 
matism. Levant Herald had a rumour that the 
English fleet has passed the Dardanelles. 

" Went to the German Embassy in the evening, to 
be presented to the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar. 
Confirmed that English fleet has passed. 

" Thursday, February 14th. — I had a telegram 
from the Dardanelles, from Consular Agent Calvert, 
about 2 a.m., telling me that English fleet passed 
Dardanelles at 4.15 p.m. of Wednesday. . . . 
Nothing yet seen of English fleet, which, it is said, 

116 



A MEMOIR 

will anchor off Prinkipo. Reported one of the 
ships aground. 

" Thursday, February 21st. — ... In the even- 
ing lectured for the British Mechanics' and Liter- 
ary Association on the superstitions connected 
with the days of the week. . . . 

" It is said that there are now three English ships 
at Gallipoli and three in the Gulf of Saros. It is re- 
ported that the Russian demands in detail are so 
great that Safvet Pasha has refused to sign the 
treaty. 

" Friday, February 22d. — . . . There are 
many rumours to-day about the Russians and the 
English fleet, but nothing definite is known. The 
Turkish fleet left yesterday, it is said, for Crete. 
Azarian, 1 who has frequently very correct infor- 
mation, said that he talked with Namyk Pasha, 
who was very despondent, and feared the whole 
thing was up, and with Ahmed Tefik Pasha, who 
said that the armistice would be over by the end 
of the week, and that then they could attend to 
their ordinary affairs. What it meant he did not 
quite know. 

" Saturday, February 23d. — We had intended go- 
ing up the Bosphorus, but the boiler of the De- 
spatch gave out, so I sent Greene up with James 
Maynard. Greene and I breakfasted on the De- 
spatch and afterwards called on Mrs. Maynard and 
walked. In the evening went to the Maynards', 
where Greene and some others were dining, and 

1 The Armenian Metropolitan. 
117 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

then to the Austrian Embassy. The Ambassadors 
all say that there was a great crisis, which has fortu- 
nately passed, and that war has been averted. It 
is generally understood that a Russian force, to- 
gether with General Ignatief and the plenipoten- 
tiaries, will occupy San Stefano, and that the treaty 
will be signed there. On dit that without question 
Bulgaria will have a port on the ^Egean. 

" Sunday, February 24th. — While still in bed I had 
a card from Millet, an American artist, now corre- 
sponding for the Daily News. Hastily dressing, I 
went down to him and found a very sympathetic 
fellow. He arrived at San Stefano at 2.30 a.m. with 
the Grand Duke Nicholas, Gourko, Ignatief, and 
the whole lot. The war is apparently over. La 
Turquie publishes a supplement with Bismarck's 
speech, which is extremely sensible, and very differ- 
ent from the first report. 

" According to what I am told to-day, the Rus- 
sians must have had a very good spy system here, for 
they occasionally recall to people the places and 
dates when they have said certain things here. 
Some believe that peace will be signed to-morrow. 

" Monday, February 25th, 18/8. — . . . Millet, 
a young American artist, who has been through 
the war as a newspaper correspondent on the 
Russian side, came to see me yesterday, and told 
me that he had just come in from San Stefano, 
which the Russians occupied early in the morning. 
As Greene wanted to get back to his post, I 
agreed to take him down in a tug, together with 

118 



A MEMOIR 

C. K. Tuckerman, lately our minister at Athens. 
There was some trouble about the luggage and 
horses, causing delay, so that we only reached San 
Stefano at half past twelve. The first man I met 
was Radonitch, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of 
Montenegro, who had been here last year during 
the Conference, and had dined with me. He 
seemed delighted to see an old acquaintance. I 
then called on Prince Tseretelef, who is living 
with General Ignatief and the rest at Schneider's 
house — a fine house with large garden right on 
the shore. We had picked up MacGahan in a 
sail-boat when half way to San Stefano, and he and 
I breakfasted with Tseretelef, Basili, Stebatchef, 
and one or two Russian Secretaries. No one is yet 
settled, and there is not much to eat. We had 
bread and a pate, some beer that I had brought, 
and an egg-nogg made with condensed milk. 
After breakfast I saw General Ignatief for a 
minute. . . . We then walked out on the 
quay : the day was lovely, and all was anima- 
tion, the bands playing, and every one — many 
in new uniforms — enjoying the sun and the 
sea. The inhabitants, too, enjoyed it. I saw many 
faces I knew, but, except Benkendorp and the 
Grand Dukes, could not place them. I was intro- 
duced to Prince Eugene Leuchtenberg, who was 
very amiable, and introduced me to General Sko- 
belef, the father of the celebrated one. Leuchten- 
berg said he wanted to go to Prinkipo to see the 
Duke of Edinburgh. . . . By the way, people 

119 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

say that opinions are so divided on the ' Sultan,' 
H.M.N., that the Duke of Edinburgh had to put 
up a sign, ' Please remember that the Emperor of 
Russia is my father-in-law.' I saw also Prince 
Alexander Battenberg, son of Prince Alexander of 
Hesse, brother of the Empress of Russia, who is 
expected to be Prince of Bulgaria when that State 
is created, a handsome, agreeable young fellow who 
has accompanied the army during the campaign. I 
met, too, many old acquaintances, including Colo- 
nel Gaillard, the French Military Attache, whom I 
had known at St. Petersburg. Brunswick was 
there to see Ignatief, though he had only just re- 
turned from Paris. He and several people wanted 
to return with us, but finally we brought no one 
except the two Austrian Military Attaches. We 
made very good time returning, leaving at 5.15 and 
reaching Galata at 6.45. On coming home, I found 
a telegram that General Grant will be here on Fri- 
day. 

" Wednesday, February 27th. — I expected to go 
to-night on the Despatch to the Dardanelles to 
meet General Grant, but after the sailing had been 
put off from five to seven, we got on board only 
to find that the boiler had totally given out and was 
worse than ever. We (General Chambers, James 
Maynard, and Feridoun Bey, the Turkish Court 
official) dined on board and came away. 

" February 28th. — It was finally decided that Gen- 
eral Chambers, James Maynard, and myself should 
go down on a tug and meet General Grant. We 

120 



A MEMOIR 

started at five and towards seven reached San Ste- 
fano, where we found Greene. We went into Le 
Bon's restaurant while Greene ate his dinner, where 
we met MacGahan and a number of Russian offi- 
cers, many of whom I had known before. . . . 
Afterwards I went with MacGahan to the Schneider 
house to see Tseretelef. General Ignatief found 
us waiting, came in and talked for nearly half an 
hour. He said that the propositions of peace as 
published in the Levant Herald were all nonsense. 
The Turks were very slow and dilatory; he must 
give them a little time or Europe would cry out 
that he did not allow them to deliberate. Saadoul- 
lah was all the time talking about his commission 
in Bulgaria and the trouble he had with Baring. 
Ignatief said : ' Are you not ashamed ever to men- 
tion that you were on such a commission? ' Safvet 
Pasha never could remember anything about the 
Conference, and always seemed to forget that Igna- 
tief had been present at it. Ignatief, however, 
hoped to get an answer to some points next day. 
The Turks would never consider one point at a 
time, but were all the time skipping from Serbia to 
Bulgaria, and from Montenegro to Armenia; were 
constantly discussing the boundaries of Bulgaria 
and mentioning isolated points within them, such 
as Rasgrad, where the population was mostly or 
wholly Turkish. 

" After he went away, we took tea with Tseretelef 
and Stchertatchef, and had a long talk and many 
stories about the war and old scenes. 

121 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

" Afterwards went to Greene's room, where we 
talked about West Point, etc., till after twelve, 
when we went on board the tug with no difficulty, 
for the Russian sentries had been withdrawn during 
the night. 

" March ist. — We passed rather an unsettled 
night, sleeping partly below and partly on deck. We 
stood out to sea all night, so as to be on the course 
of any vessel. A little after daylight we saw the 
Vandalia and finally went on board. General Grant 
was very strong in conversation on the Silver Bill; 
said that if he were President he would not only 
veto it, but that if Congress passed it over his veto, 
he would use every means to hinder its execution 
until the Supreme Court had passed on it, and would 
advise all bankers and others to have dealings only 
in gold. Much as he should hate to vote for a 
Democrat for President, he would rather vote for a 
Democrat sound on financial questions than for an 
unsound Republican. He was anxious to know 
about recent events, and was interested to hear all 
that I could tell him from my visit to San Stefano 
the night before. In spite of everything that he 
had said and done at the places where he had previ- 
ously made visits, it was evident that the military 
spirit had come upon him very strongly, as he ex- 
pressed a great desire to see the Russian Army, and 
wanted to know if it would not be possible for him 
to get horses and ride out that day to San Stefano 
and back. I endeavoured to dissuade him by ex- 
plaining the difficulty of the communications, and 

122 



A MEMOIR 

that he could scarcely visit the Russian camp except 
under the convoy of Greene, who had remained 
there, and to whom I could not easily get word so 
quickly. I suggested that it would be better to go 
down in the Vandalia, perhaps, when he went away 
after his visit to Constantinople was over. I told 
him how Greene had ridden in from the Russian 
lines, forgetting that, owing to the exigencies of the 
campaign, he was almost in Russian uniform, wear- 
ing Russian decorations given to him for his 
bravery, and how he had not been challenged by 
the Turkish sentries till he had entered the streets 
of Constantinople, when, for the first time, he 
thought what a fool-hardy act he had committed. 
His ride in, however, had given him great prestige. 
We reached Tophane about nine o'clock. . . . 
Lieutenant Miller, Jesse Grant, and John Russell 
Young, who was acting as General Grant's private 
secretary, dined with us, together with Greene, 
who had just returned. Several others came in 
the evening, including Austin (the Times corre- 
spondent), Millet, and MacGahan. Greene had 
arranged that if General Grant chose to visit the 
Russian head-quarters he would be invited to 
breakfast with the Grand Duke Nicholas, and that 
a review would be held in his honour. 

" March 2d. — General Grant had proposed going 
up the Bosphorus, but the weather was too bad. I 
called there and stayed to breakfast. Grant is very 
strong in his ideas against the Turks and what 
ought to be done with Turkey. It is plain he is 

123 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

learning a great deal during his journey. The 
Grant family and some others dined at the Lega- 
tion. We went there in the evening for a little 
while. It was not very amusing. 

" March 3d. — General Grant dined with us to-day. 
As it is impossible in my position to invite Ambas- 
sadors to dinner, and as I could not in any case 
ask them to yield their place at table to General 
Grant, we had only a small party — Mr. Maynard, 
the Minister, and his daughter, Captain Robeson, 
of the Vandalia, and Captain Higginson, of the De- 
spatch, with his wife. A very good dinner, and 
Grant was unusually talkative. Mrs. Grant had a 
headache and did not come. Being our usual re- 
ception evening, a lot of people came, including the 
Italian, Dutch, and Swedish Ministers and other 
diplomats — about thirty in all. Prince Reuss, the 
German Ambassador, sent word by Count Rado- 
linsky regretting that he was kept home by illness. 
Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves, and General 
Grant more than all. When tea was announced, 
he proposed to go; but on my telling him that 
whiskey toddy and cigars were always provided in 
the dining-room, he consented to stay for a few 
minutes. Nevertheless, after he had cooled his 
glass of toddy with a little more whiskey, he sat 
down on a sofa with the wife of the Swedish Minis- 
ter next to him till nearly one o'clock. He made 
himself so very entertaining that he was the middle 
of a large circle. Count Corti, the Italian Minister, 
had known the General in Washington, and came 

124 



A MEMOIR 

expressly to tell us that he had just had a despatch 
from General Ignatief, saying that peace had been 
signed at San Stefano that afternoon a little before 
five o'clock." 

This was the first public announcement of the 
peace, and it turned out afterwards that the English 
Embassy did not hear of it till next morning. 

" March ph. — The Maynards had a reception for 
General Grant, to which they had bidden all the 
Diplomatic Corps, no end of Turkish officials, and 
every one they knew. It passed off very well and 
was thoroughly a VAmericaine. After that, Gen- 
eral and Mrs. Grant came to our house to rest and 
dress before going to dine at the British Embassy. 
They had three or four rooms devoted to their ex- 
clusive use, and the General was left alone in my 
study with his cigars and the last American news- 
papers. He made his appearance, however, long 
before it was time to go out; and while waiting for 
Mrs. Grant, stood with his back to the fire and told 
us what he would have done had he been the Rus- 
sian Commander-in-Chief. Millet and MacGahan 
were present, as they were going to dine with us, 
together with Greene. They told us all about the 
signature of peace and about the review afterwards. 
Among other things, the General said : ' Had I 
been in the position of the Grand Duke Nicho- 
las, I should have refused to make peace ex- 
cept at Constantinople. The occupation of Con- 

125 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

stantinople — for the English fleet could not have 
prevented it — would have been an accomplished 
fact, which the European Powers would have had 
to treat as they best could. I should have insisted 
on one condition — that Turkish rule in Europe had 
for ever come to an end; and should have expressed 
my willingness to leave the details of the settlement 
to the European Powers on this one condition; 
provided, also, that all rights of private property, 
whether Mussulman or Christian, should be re- 
spected, and a fair sum be paid to the Turks for 
the Government property.' 

" He then went into many details as to how this 
settlement could be made, but I remember only the 
general drift of what he said. After dinner we 
went to the reception given to General Grant at the 
British Embassy, and found Mr. and Mrs. Layard 
unusually amiable and all Constantinople present. 
Unfortunately, Mrs. Grant was tired and the Gen- 
eral went away early, before many people had time 
to see him. 

" March 5th. — Early this morning Tseretelef tele- 
graphed that he would come and breakfast with me. 
He made himself very agreeable and amusing, and 
was delighted to be once more in Pera. General 
and Countess Ignatief breakfasted with the Greek 
Minister. Tseretelef told us that everything was 
prepared for a fine reception of General Grant at 
San Stefano to-morrow, with a breakfast and parade. 
Some of the rest of us are to go down on the Van- 
dalia or Despatch, and will be met and shown about 

126 



A MEMOIR 

the town and given places at the review. The 
Vandalia with the Grant party will then go on, 
while we return to Constantinople. 

" At 6.30 the Grant party and all the Legation 
dined at the Seraskierat, with most of the Turkish 
Ministers, the Military Attaches, and some others. 
The dinner was given in the Sultan's name (as on 
account of the disaster he does not wish to appear 
in public). It was an excellent one in French style. 
I sat between Mehemmed Ali Pasha and Assym 
Pasha, President of the Council and acting Minis- 
ter of Foreign Affairs, and amused myself very well. 
Both were polite and agreeable. Grant saw the 
Sultan informally to-day and the Sultan's stables. 
The Sultan wished to give him a fine Arabian horse, 
but he refused. 

" After dinner the General told me that he had 
suddenly decided not to go to San Stefano to-mor- 
row to see the Grand Duke Nicholas. I repeated 
what Tseretelef had told me of the preparations 
made for him; but he said that our Minister was so 
positive that this would be considered impolite to 
the Turks and would injure his position as American 
representative that he begged him not to go. I 
represented to him that since the armistice, and es- 
pecially since the conclusion of peace, there had 
been frequent communications between the two 
sides; that General Ignatief had breakfasted in Pera 
to-day with the Greek Minister; that various diplo- 
mats had been to San Stefano, and that arrange- 
ments were on foot for a formal visit of the Grand 

127 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

Duke Nicholas to the Sultan. At the same time I 
admitted that the Minister was the only person to 
decide what might affect our relations with Turkey, 
though, considering the length to which matters 
had gone, I feared the effect upon the Russians. 
Much as I dislike the result, I cannot but admire 
Grant's patience and loyalty in submitting to the 
advice of the Minister, especially as he says it was 
against all his wishes and inclinations. Poor Greene 
has had to ride post haste to San Stefano, in order 
to make what apologies and explanations he can. 
What annoys and amuses me particularly in this 
affair is that some of the suite who were disposed 
to be severe with me because I dissuaded the Gen- 
eral from riding to San Stefano on the first day of 
his arrival, now wonder that such an idea could ever 
have been considered, and blame me as if I had sug- 
gested it. 

" March 6th. — The Vandalia, with the Grant par- 
ty, after various delays, got off to-day for Athens. 

"March /th. — Just as I was finishing breakfast 
there came a little note from Greene, asking me to 
go to breakfast at Le Bon's to meet Skobelef. I 
went at once. General Skobelef professed to be 
very anxious to meet me, as we both knew so much 
about each other. He complimented me on my 
' Turkistan,' and said that many of the persons I 
had spoken of were being accused and brought to 
trial. General Kaufmann was making a regular 
clearing out. We pitied General Golovatchef, who 
had been turned out of the army, and was even re- 

128 



A MEMOIR 

fused a brigade in this war. We both thought him 
personally innocent, though he was always sur- 
rounded by swindlers and blacklegs. 

" Skobelef dined with us, together with Helbert, 
MacGahan, Millet, Greene, and Chambers. He 
made himself very entertaining, especially in his 
discussions of the war and of military operations. 
He is evidently a genius and a very sympathetic 
one. 

" Among other things, we spoke of Kashgar. He 
said that much as the Russians hated to see a strong 
Mussulman nation erected in Kashgar by the Eng- 
lish, they would have kept still had the English been 
in earnest. The moment they saw the English 
waver in their policy they took advantage of it, and 
egged on the Chinese — even supplying them with 
money and arms. Kaufmann wrote to him the 
other day that much as he disliked the Chinese as 
neighbours, he yet liked them better than the Eng- 
lish. 

" His appearance was very amusing. A Euro- 
pean officer who lives in his uniform always looks 
odd in civilian dress. Skobelef had ridden to town 
in uniform, and had been obliged to send to a Jew 
slop-shop to get some ready-made clothes, and they 
did not at all fit him. 

" March ioth. — In accordance with a telegram I 
had yesterday from Tseretelef, I went to the Rus- 
sian war steamer Vladimir to see General and 
Countess Ignatief. I found the whole Russian Em- 
bassy. General Ignatief takes the treaty signed by 
Vol. I.— 9 1 29 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

the Sultan, together with Reouf Pasha, the Minister 
of War, as special Ambassador. Tseretelef and 
Stcherbatchef accompany him. The Countess Ig- 
natief was very amiable, but abused me like a pick- 
pocket because I had not been to see her and be- 
cause Mr. Maynard had not let Grant go to San 
Stefano. The General told me that Zichy, who had 
been aboard, had begged him not let Bulgaria come 
down to salt water; that if it did, England and 
France would intrigue, etc., etc. Ignatief told him 
that this was a proof of Russia's sincerity, for if 
she had wished to keep Bulgaria all to herself, 
she would have been very careful not to give it a 
port. . . ." 



" My previsions were correct. Greene had very 
hard work to explain why General Grant had not 
come to see the Grand Duke Nicholas, and when 
the General went to St. Petersburg later he was 
given a very cold shoulder. Years before there had 
been a little ill-feeling against General Grant, on ac- 
count of the Catacazy affair, and it had been very 
difficult to procure a proper reception for General 
Sherman, because he was accompanied by one of 
the President's sons as aide-de-camp.") 



T30 



A MEMOIR 



VI 



It was quite natural that the Turks should object 
to the presence of a man who had done so much 
to expose their barbarities. However, they never 
dared say a word about the Bulgarian business, but 
complained that Mr. Schuyler had too vigorously 
supported his Government's view of its treaty rights 
in Turkey. To relieve the situation, he was given 
leave of absence and returned to America in the 
spring of 1878, where he spent the summer. In the 
autumn he was transferred to the consulship at Bir- 
mingham — a curious appointment for a man whose 
specialty was the Eastern Question. He accepted it 
as a stop-gap, which, in fact, it was, as he was made 
Consul-General at Rome in the summer of 1879. 

Life in Birmingham was not in itself interesting, 
but wherever he might be he made life interesting. 
From his house at Edgebaston, the most attractive 
of the suburbs, he took long walks over the country, 
and longer excursions by train. Naturally, he and 
his wife met all the people of note in the neighbour- 
hood, and in his letters he speaks of Mr. Chamber- 
lain, of Mr. Samuel Timmins, the Shakespearian 
scholar, of the antiquarian, Mr. Bragge, and of many 
others. 

Housekeeping in Birmingham was unexpectedly 
131 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

difficult, the British cook objecting to the French 
maid's irreligious habit of sewing on Sunday, and 
giving notice in consequence; while the latter took 
England so hard as to bring on a crise des nerfs, 
which was made the occasion for a delightful trip 
to Bath, " partly for ourselves, but chiefly for the 
maid, who over-exerted herself until the other night 
she went half crazy." 

Then the confectioner would not supply sweets on 
Sunday, the cook had a heavy hand, guests were 
expected, the mistress was a good mistress, but no 
cook, so the master of the house, collecting a hete- 
rogeneous array of fruits and liqueurs and a bottle 
of champagne, invented a dish which was a standby 
of the family for ever after. The garden was looked 
upon hopefully at first, but as everything came up 
rhubarb, no matter what was planted, it did not 
prove the source of pleasure that was expected. 

All this time he was not forgotten in Bulgaria. 
At the first meeting of the Bulgarian National As- 
sembly, on April 4th, 1879, three telegrams were 
sent, one to the Emperor of Russia, one to Mr. 
Gladstone, and one to Mr. Schuyler. His diary 
contains the following entry: 

" Sunday, April 6th. — Palm Sunday. . . . 
Went to the office and found a letter from Lord Au- 
gustus Loftus and another from Shaw, Consul at 

132 



A MEMOIR 

Manchester, which enclosed a telegram, sent there 
by mistake, from the National Bulgarian Assembly 
at Tirnova. I could not help being much pleased. 

'"Tirnova, April 4, 1879. 
" ' At the time that European diplomacy was try- 
ing with all possible means to conceal the sufferings 
of the Bulgarian nation, in consequence of the Turk- 
ish atrocities perpetrated two years ago, you, 
through your famous report, brought the truth to 
light and helped to remedy the evil. The free Bul- 
garian nation hastens to thank you heartily for your 
great services, and to assure you that your hon- 
oured name will hold an enviable place in the his- 
tory of the liberation of our nation. 

(Signed) Anthim, 

President of the National Assembly.' ' 

While on a visit to London in May, 1879, Mr. 
Schuyler saw in a newspaper his appointment as 
Consul-General at Rome, and returned to Birming- 
ham only to prepare to leave it; although for some 
reason his departure was delayed until the end of 
August. Meanwhile, in the leisure of Birmingham, 
he had begun his " Life of Peter the Great," and be- 
fore going to Rome he found time for a visit to Hol- 
land, where, as he says, he " archived " most indus- 
triously, and incidentally made an effort to find out 
something about his Dutch ancestors. To his eld- 
est sister, 1 whose birthday he never forgot to notice, 

1 Mrs. Grant. 
133 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

through all his wanderings, he wrote from Amers- 
foort on August 3d: 

" You see that I do not forget your birthday, and 
I write, too, from the birth-place of your ancestors, 
as well as of Jan Olden Barneveldt. ... At 
present I will only say that there was a Hendrik 
van Slichtenhorst, a Schepen (Alderman) at the 
Hague from 1633 to 1646, when he died, and that 
he figures in two splendid large pictures by Raves- 
tyn, and one of Jansen. I hope he is a relative. I 
have also bought a copy of the book of our ancestor 
Arent v. Slichtenhorst, the ' History of Guelder- 
land.' I can only barely make myself understood 
in Dutch, but I find I can read it easily enough. 

" My Dutch cousin came and took me to Nykerk, 
the home of the Van Rensselaers. They took their 
name from an estate called Rensselaer close by. 
There and in many other churches I saw the Van 
Rensselaer arms on many tombstones. In the 
orphan asylum there is a splendid picture by 
Breecker in 1641, of the first regents of the asylum. 
One of them is Jan Van Rensselaer and another 
Rykert van Twiller. Every one thought I looked 
very much like the Van Rensselaer. I didn't see it 
myself, except that he was short and stout. . . ." 

Mr. Schuyler's position in Rome was a very agree- 
able one. He and his wife were persona gratissimce 
in Roman society, where the latter had already had 

134 



A MEMOIR 

five years' experience. On the other hand, the ven- 
erable Mr. Marsh, for many years Minister of the 
United States at Rome, and greatly respected there 
for his learning and other qualities, considered it 
derogatory to the dignity of the Service to associate 
the Commercial with the Diplomatic branch in social 
matters, and therefore declined to present the Con- 
sul-General at Court. To a man who had been used 
to being on pleasant terms with royalty in many 
countries, this view was unexpected. However, in 
one way it gave to him and his wife a social position 
of more scope than would otherwise have been pos- 
sible. They had a delightful apartment in the 
Palazzo Altemps, where they received their friends 
in their usual way. Because they were, in a manner, 
outsiders, having no connection with the Quirinal, 
everybody came to them — both Blacks and Whites. 
One met at their receptions Cairoli, the King's 
Prime Minister, and the officials of the Papal Court; 
Cardinal Howard, and Doctor O'Connell, the head 
of the American College; the ladies of the Court; the 
Ambassadors to the two Courts, resplendent with 
decorations; all Roman society, and Americans 
without number. 

At this time " Peter the Great " was coming out 
in Scribner's Monthly almost as fast as it was writ- 
ten; a manner of publication which proved trying to 

135 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

the nerves of a much-interrupted man. Fortu- 
nately for him and for the book, his duties as Consul- 
General required many short journeys of supervis- 
ion, and at these times he could often stop by the 
way and get a quiet day or two for writing, and for 
the country walks which he loved. He wrote from 
Albano in the spring of 1880: 

" A rainy day has not prevented work, though it 
has made me hazy from want of exercise. Just now 
I am capturing Azof. ... I walked yesterday 
fully ten miles and came home rather tired. We 
went to Genzano, from there down close to the 
shore of Lake Nemi, then up an awfully steep hill 
to the village of Nemi, and then by a short cut to 
the Galleria di Sopra, on Lake Albano, and so down 
home. It was windy and cool, but we had the sun 
just at the worst time — as we were going up the 
hill. For wild flowers it beats even Greece. I 
counted fully eighty-five plants in bloom, not count- 
ing grasses or the lovely ferns. Some of them were 
very pretty. In the woods between the lakes the 
ground was covered with the Poets' Narcissus, of 
which I brought home a large handful. 

" Dictation last night and this morning. Three 
parts of Part 10 finished. Peter is back in Moscow, 
having resisted — so far as I know — the temptations 
of Aurora v. Konigsmark and the Fraulein v. 
Thurn, and is beginning to cut off beards and 
skirts. . . ." 

136 



A MEMOIR 

The Roman life came to an end very soon. In 
June, 1880, Mr. Schuyler was surprised by the an- 
nouncement of his promotion and transfer to Bu- 
carest as Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General. 
He writes of his appointment : 

" We enjoyed Rome very greatly, though I have 
been far too busy with my Consular work and with 
' Peter the Great ' to get all the advantage of Italy 
that I wished. I leave it with regret. Bucarest is 
very expensive and not particularly pleasant. Still 
there is great political interest in the East, and no 
one knows what is in store there. ... I was 
appointed without my knowledge, and even yet 
have no official announcement of the fact." 

His stay in Bucarest was beset with vexations. 
The title with which he was sent— Diplomatic 
Agent— did not suit the Roumanian Government, 
who justly maintained that such an agent could not 
be received in an independent country. The new- 
ness of their independence made them, perhaps, 
more particular; but, in fact, the only other Dip- 
lomatic Agent sent by us was to Egypt, a vassal 
state. The President respected their prejudices by 
using the term " Diplomatic Representative " in his 
Message; and Mr. Schuyler was accepted provision- 
ally until his title could be arranged. About the 

137 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

end of January he received his credentials as CJiarge- 
d' Affaires and Consul-General, but meantime his 
anomalous position had caused him many annoy- 
ances. As Charge-d' Affaires he was placed on a 
par with his colleagues of Holland and Monaco, all 
the others being of higher rank. His personal rela- 
tions with the Prince and Princess were always 
pleasant. Of the former he had written in 1876: 
" Like all the Hohenzollern princes that I have met, 
he leaves you under a spell, produced by frankness, 
bonhommie, intelligence, and culture." 

With a new country like this, relations of every 
kind had to be begun, and it was necessary, there- 
fore, to make commercial and consular treaties, 
which placed Americans choosing to go to Rou- 
mania for business purposes, on the same footing as 
other foreigners as to rights and privileges. These 
negotiations dragged on until the following sum- 
mer, owing to the procrastinating habits of the 
Roumanian statesmen. The treaties were, how- 
ever, finally signed and ratified. In addition, there 
was a trade-mark convention to be made, and gen- 
eral and special reports to prepare on the commerce, 
industries, and revenues of the country. 

Meantime a visit to Bulgaria, in response to an 
invitation to dine with the Prince, made a pleasant 
episode. 

138 



A MEMOIR 

" Rustchuk, September 26, 1880, 
Monday Morning. 

". . . So far I have every reason to be satisfied 
with my reception. Stoilof, the Prince's secretary, 
timed a visit to Bucarest so as to take me over, and 
we found one of the Prince's launches waiting on 
the Roumanian side of the river. I got here about 
noon, and at two o'clock was received by the Prince, 
who was very amiable, and who talked politics a 
long time with me. He thanked me for all I had 
done, and also for my telegrams. It seems that 
my telegram after the Winter Palace explosion was 
the first he received, and Stoilof told me he was 
very much touched. 

" Afterwards I went to Stoilof's room, where I 
saw the Metropolitan-Archbishop, who was all that 
is most amiable. A number of Bulgarians were in- 
vited to dinner to meet me, and one of them said I 
had saved his life. I had seen him in prison. He 
was then a school-teacher, and is now a judge. The 
Metropolitan sat on the right hand of the Prince 
and I on his left. There were, among others, the 
Prefect, the Master of the Court, a German, and a 
young Russian aide-de-camp, to whom I took a 
fancy. The dinner was good, and the conversation, 
at least on our side, tolerably animated. The 
Prince started off that night for Shumla, where he 
has some inspections of troops. 

" I was interrupted here by a visit of the Metro- 
politan, the Prefect, and all the city authorities, etc., 
etc., with formal speeches and no end of hand- 

139 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

shaking, and thanks to the original liberator and 
saviour of Bulgaria, etc. If it did not somehow 
seem ludicrous for me to be in this position I 
should feel like crying. At the bottom of the last 
page I had a visit from Mr. Zancoff, the Minister 
of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister. 

"' Later. — I breakfasted with Dalziel, the English 
Vice-Consul, where I met Vincent, 1 one of the 
secretaries of the East Roumelian Commission. I 
had seen him in London. Then I went with the 
Prefect to inspect some fortifications, visited a 
school, and called on the Metropolitan, and appar- 
ently thus escaped a Macedonian deputation. 

" I am, on the whole, very much pleased with my 
visit. Everybody looks happier and more comfort- 
able. One can see that the people are free. Even 
the Turks seem contented enough. It seems rather 
pleasant to see Turks again in their motley garb, 
bazaars, and minarets. . . ." 

He was now working harder than ever at " Peter 
the Great," which was drawing to a close in a man- 
ner that was vexatious to him. The magazine hav- 
ing changed hands, he was asked to condense his 
later chapters, in order to finish more quickly; and 
where he did not condense enough, a ruthless editor 
either mangled or omitted some of the portions with 
which he had taken the greatest pains. This, of 
course, necessitated a subsequent rewriting of all 

1 Sir Edgar Vincent. 
I40 



A MEMOIR 

the latter part of the book. In October he went 
to Odessa to consult the library there. 

" Still at Odessa, October 28, 1880, 
but I expect to leave on Monday. 

" My Dear Gertrude : I have been very busy 
with reading up until I thought my brain would 
burst. Everything opens up here so much, but I 
hope to go back with a much clearer idea of certain 
things concerning Peter. I shall also be all primed 
to write my regular article for the Athenceum on 
Russian literature. . . ." 

" Bucarest, November 14, 1880. 
". . . My report is finished, but the third copy 
is not quite finished. It makes eighty-one pages of 
foolscap, of which forty-one have been done since 
I got back — in ten days. Besides that, I have cor- 
rected, had copied, and got off three chapters of 
Peter, have drawn up and had copied a pro jet de 
traite, both in English and French, twenty-one 
pages each; have written two long despatches in 
English and French, and two short ones, and this 
makes thirty-six letters. I have now on hand some 
more Peter and three long despatches. I feel, 
therefore, that I have not been idle, but still I have 
not seemed to work particularly hard. . . ." 

It was a peculiarity of his that he never did seem 
to be working very hard. He always had an air of 
leisure and detachment, stopping to walk about 

141 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

the house or the garden, to talk, to play a game 
of patience, seeming to idle away his time, but ac- 
complishing an amazing amount of work. At this 
time his work was made much more difficult by the 
long illness of his private secretary. Moreover, 
Bucarest did not agree with him. He suffered 
greatly from neuralgia, and found his life there alto- 
gether depressing. To one of his family he wrote : 

" I don't know why you have such a fixed idea 
of the charms of Bucarest. Take to-day; it is sunny 
and pleasant, but it is impossible to walk a step. 
There are two streets that are well paved, six more 
with a block or two of paving; the rest are with 
large cobble-stones worse than Constantinople, 
either no sidewalks or paved like the street. Even 
in the good streets the sidewalks are as in Pera, 
either very narrow or none at all. As the streets 
are never cleaned or swept, those rare sidewalks are 
now covered with slimy, sticky mud, through which 
you must shuffle, for if you lift your feet you fall 
down. There is not a picture nor statue — a poor 
library, a parody on a museum, almost no music, 
except a wretched Italian opera. Society is fear- 
ful. . . . 

" I have just had another Christmas present, or, 
rather, notice of one. The Prince of Serbia has 
sent me the Takova Cross, Commandeur, round the 
neck like the others. It has not come yet, so that 
I don't know how it looks. When it arrives I will 

142 



A MEMOIR 

write a polite note, and say that I will ask permis- 
sion of Congress to wear it. I won't say when, but 
that will excuse me from wearing it if I go to Bel- 
grade. Of course I don't wear any of them, except 
the Roumanian medal, which is not a decoration, 
being only given for literary merit. But some day 
when I am in America I'll get some friend to get 
a resolution through Congress for all of them. I 
see General Sickles has just asked permission for 
the Legion of Honor." 

In March, 1881, occurred the assassination of the 
Emperor of Russia. 

" The first account has just come. The awful 
details make me almost sick. ... I don't think 
I ever spoke to the present Emperor, 1 except on 
my formal presentation, and I don't remember that 
I was even presented. He did not care much to 
see people. But I used to hear a good deal about 
him from people who knew him, and, contrary to 
most foreigners, formed a high opinion of him. 
One thing is perfectly true. He and his wife are 
still in love with each other; and they were the only 
ones of the Imperial family, male or female, about 
whom there was not the slightest breath of scandal. 
I might, perhaps, except the Grand Duchess Cath- 
erine (Mecklenburg) and the Grand Duchess Vladi- 
mir. He is obstinate, but he is sensible and intelli- 
gent, and is fond of the English." 

1 Alexander III. 
143 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

" Bucarest, March 26, 1881. 

". . . We have had a great excitement. The 
Prince has been proclaimed King. I have just 
come from the Senate, where I saw the law voted. 
The town is gay with flags. It is a pleasant day, 
and everybody is out. Fortunately, I did some 
work this morning, for I have been gadding about 
all the afternoon, seeing my colleagues, who are 
now only distinguished strangers until they get 
new credentials, and looking at the crowd. Un- 
luckily, it will put the treaty back a few days yet, 
and some pages will have to be re-copied. I have 
sent a telegram to Washington and hope to get 
one soon in reply. 

" It seems that yesterday the Conservatives vio- 
lently attacked the Liberals for protecting Nihilists, 
which made the majority so angry that they insisted 
on proclaiming the King as a reply. It zvas not 
to be done until May 22. No foreign power has 
been asked for its consent, and some of the Aus- 
trians are furious. Awkwardly enough for them, 
both Hoyos and Wesdehlen went to Sinaia early 
this morning to look for a house, so that they know 
nothing about it. . . . 

" March 2jth. — After finishing my letter last 
night, I went up towards the palace with the crowd, 
and when all the formalities had been concluded the 
King and Queen came out on the balcony. He 
looked grave and quiet, but she was excited and 
very much pleased, and constantly waved her hand- 
kerchief to the crowd. When they had gone in 

144 



A MEMOIR 

Bratiano 1 bowed awhile and finally kissed his 
hand right and left. It is something, of course, to 
make a king. . . . 

" May io, 1881. — . . . Your letters came yes- 
terday, just as I was starting on my picnic. ' Gar 
nichts oder ganz ' is the Queen's favourite motto, 
and has no special reference to her being queen. 
They say she is very unhappy. She is rather afraid 
of her husband, who is not very sympathetic; she 
has no children, and worse even, not a single rela- 
tive or equal in the country. In most royal families 
you know, there are a lot of cousins, brothers, and 
sisters, who help pass the time. When Carol came 
as Prince he introduced a very rigid etiquette, 
which has quite cut them off from intercourse 
with the people of the country. So she is to be 
pitied. . . . 

" I am much worried over Bulgaria. The Prince 
is going to try to upset the Constitution. You will 
have seen his proclamation in the papers. I tried 
to see Zancoff to-day, but was unsuccessful. I 
shall do what I can to support the Constitutional 
party. I think the abdication of the Prince much 
the least of two evils, and I cannot but ask myself 
whether there is not some Russian intrigue at bot- 
tom, to show the Russians the folly of a constitu- 
tion. . . . 

" It seems to me now as if there were nothing but 
going to bed and getting up again, with a little 
worry in between. ... If I were in the service 

1 The Prime Minister. 

Vol. I.— 10 145 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

of any other Government it might do me good to 
be an authority about these countries. But with 
ours it is not of the least service." 

In June, 1881, he was sent on a special mission 
to Belgrade for the purpose of making treaties with 
Serbia. 

" I fear that my stay here will be prolonged for a 
few days. I saw Mr. Mijatovitch again this morn- 
ing, and gave him my draft treaties. He says he 
will read them over at once, and hopes that we can 
come to an agreement in a few days. I should 
then have to send them to America before signing, 
which would take about six weeks. . . . We 
had a long hunt in the library this morning for the 
volumes of Russian laws I wanted, which had got 
misplaced. There is an awful job before me to 
study them, which, however, will satisfy my author's 
conscience not to take the things at second 
hand. . . . 

" At noon I was received by the Prince and Prin- 
cess. I was in ordinary morning dress, with black 
gloves, he ditto, and she in black. They are in 
mourning for his grandmother, who died the other 
day, very old — a peasant woman, who could neither 
read nor write. I had sweets and cold water and a 
cup of coffee. They were very amiable. He has 
great good sense, and showed that he perfectly 
understood himself and what he was talking about. 

146 



A MEMOIR 

He is much more sympathetic than the Roumanian 
King." 

While waiting for the treaties to be sent back 
from America, he went for a short visit to Paris. 
From Vienna he wrote to his wife, August 4th: 

" I think you will laugh when I tell you why I 
stay over here to-morrow. I am invited to dinner 
to meet the King of the Sandwich Islands. I have 
been dining to-night to meet the Prime Minister, 
and am to breakfast with him to-morrow. 

" I found, to my astonishment, to-day that the 
Prime Minister is Armstrong — whom we used to 
call ' Feejee ' Armstrong — an old college friend of 
mine. You say I meet them everywhere. He was 
born in the Sandwich Islands, where his father was 
a missionary or something of the kind, but had 
never been back there. He had always known the 
King, and did a good deal for him in America. 
The King then asked him to go out, but he refused. 
He said, however, that if the King should ever get 
into difficulties, to send for him. Last November, 
when he had lost all his money and was helping his 
brother supervise the negro schools at Hampton, 
he got a telegram to go at once. He was made 
Attorney-General, settled all the difficulties, and is 
now Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs. Then 
came the journey round the world, and for the last 
few months he has done nothing but hobnob with 
Kings, Queens, and Emperors — China, Japan, 

147 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

Siam, Burmah, India, Egypt, Berlin, London, 
Vienna, etc. He is very entertaining and amus- 
ing, especially when he talks about his King. 
Phelps had him to dinner to-night, together with 
Jones and his daughter, and a very amusing old 
man, Smith — who is with them — a man who seems 
to know everybody. By the way, Jones crossed 
with you all in 1867, when you rescued a ship- 
wrecked crew, and your father christened a baby. 
From there we went to the Volks-garten, where I 
met General di Cesnola, whom I knew only by 
correspondence. 

" Vienna, Sunday, August 7, 1881. 
". . . The dinner last night passed off very 
well. . . . Besides the King, his prime minister 
and his chamberlain, there were only Jones, Smith 
— who knows everybody in New York and Paris — 
Cesnola, and myself. His Majesty Kalakaua was 
very amiable and pleasant, and there was a good 
deal of general conversation. I did not, however, 
get any chance to talk to him, on account of my 
place at table. I devoted myself chiefly to Arm- 
strong, and had a very jolly time. His Majesty is 
not bad looking, but very much like a negro, 
which is strange, as he has no negro blood in him. 
I have acquired such delightful ideas of the climate 
and life at the Sandwich Islands, that I think I 
would accept with joy if Blaine sent me there as 
Minister. . . ." 

148 



A MEMOIR 

To his Wife. 
" Bucarest, Monday, September 26, 1881. 
". . . The Requiem for the repose of the soul 
of President Garfield took place yesterday morning 
in the cathedral, with all due ceremony, the Metro- 
politan conducting the proceedings. The service 
by no means comes up to a Russian one. There had 
been very late notice, and not many people were 
there; most of the diplomats, several officials and 
officers, etc., etc. In spite of the pouring rain, I 
had to go down again in the afternoon to call on 
the Metropolitan and thank him. He speaks 
French and is a nice old man. I believe the Gov- 
ernment has also sent a telegram of condolence to 
Mrs. Garfield. They have also charged me with a 
message for the Government. The papers say that 
the English Court has gone into mourning. I 
should not be surprised if this and the general feel- 
ing of sympathy in England led to our sending an 
Ambassador to England before very long. I am 
sure I hope so. All this only shows how people 
are beginning to respect us now that we are strong 
and successful. England now looks at us with very 
different eyes from twenty years ago. ... I see 
that the Belgian and Spanish Courts have also gone 
into mourning. . . ." 

In the autumn of 1881 a leave of absence enabled 
Mr. Schuyler to revisit America. During the win- 
ter, which he spent chiefly in Washington, his 

149 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

advice was asked in regard to certain matters 
concerning which he was greatly interested and 
particularly well informed. He had always advo- 
cated the union, wherever possible, of the Diplo- 
matic and Consular Service, on grounds of economy 
and efficiency. 

" Our interests are chiefly commercial ones. Any 
important case has to go in the end to the Minister. 
Why not suppress the intermediate step — the Con- 
sul-General — or unite him to the Legation? It 
will be cheaper and will be more efficient. At the 
same time there is a saving to travellers and 
others. . . . The office of Consul-General is 
chiefly one of supervision — at Rome almost en- 
tirely so — and that could perfectly well be per- 
formed by the Legation. In London and Paris 
this is impossible or very difficult, owing to the 
amount of work done. . . . 

" There is no such absolute distinction between 
diplomatic and consular duties as many people, not 
diplomats, seem to think. They constantly run 
into one another. If our Government chose to im- 
pose upon the Legations all the duties incumbent 
on consuls it would make no practical difference to 
anybody, and would, of course, be only applicable 
in the Capitals, where the Legations reside. . . . 
Nearly every government has at some time carried 
on its consular business in some Legation or other. 
But just here is a point about which there may be 

150 



A MEMOIR 

a susceptibility, charging not diplomats with con- 
sular, but consuls with diplomatic functions. Gen- 
erally speaking, in Europe diplomats come from 
the upper and consuls from the middle classes; and 
this looks like putting a man above his sphere. 
You know the idea is very widely spread in America 
that it is absurd to have any diplomats; that a 
consul acting as Char ge-d 'Affaires could do the 
work just as well. Now what I have wanted to 
do was to . . • show that ministers and secre- 
taries, while not losing the consideration attached 
to them, and keeping their proper rank, are per- 
fectly fit and able to do consular duty and are not 
useless excrescences." 

Mr. Schuyler's opinion was not mere theory. 
Among other instances, the Italian Minister had 
the title of Consul or Consul-General in five coun- 
tries, while a number of European Courts recog- 
nised our Minister as Consul-General or our Con- 
sul-General as also Secretary of Legation without 
any trouble. In view of all this he assisted in the 
preparation of a bill uniting the Consulate-Gen- 
eral with the Legation in several places, including 
Rome and Vienna. In his absence, and greatly 
to his annoyance, the wording of the bill was ac- 
cidentally changed, so that instead of making the 
Secretary of Legation, Consul-General, the Con- 
sul-General was invested with the office of Secre- 

151 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

tary of Legation. This unfortunate mistake caused 
him to be accused of having shortened the life of 
the Minister to Rome, by depriving him of a sec- 
retary without whose services he was unable to 
carry on the work of the. Legation; and a very 
powerful enemy was raised up in Washington. 
The result was far-reaching, and was undoubtedly 
one of the causes of the subsequent interruption of 
his career. 



VII 

Mr. Schuyler remained in America until the fol- 
lowing July. Meantime he was appointed Minister 
to Greece, Serbia, and Roumania, and after visiting 
the two Tatter countries, took up his residence in 
Athens in January, 1883. 

His first visit there had been made in the spring 
of 1877, when he went off for a breathing space 
after the eight months of work and worry entailed 
by the Bulgarian investigation and the events 
which followed it. A letter written at that time 
gives his first impressions in all their freshness: 

" I cannot realize that I have been here only a 
week, so much has been compressed into a small 
time. There is much to see and much to enjoy, and 
much that is simply strange. For one thing, peo- 

152 



A MEMOIR 

pie here are much more cut off from the world than 
at Constantinople, and the European mails leave at 
rare and, to me, difficult-to-ascertain times. To- 
day is the Greek Good Friday, and I must say I 
never saw so strange a one, or, on the whole, so 
jolly a one. The streets are full to overflowing 
with people, and yet it is not a close holiday, for 
most of the shops are open. One, indeed, is draped 
in deep black, and the flags are everywhere at half- 
mast, but trade goes on as briskly as ever. Half 
of the common people go about with lambs and 
sheep on their shoulders or hung around their 
necks — to be eaten on Easter — and booths are on 
all the corners, for the sale of Easter candles and 
red Easter eggs. We went into some of the 
churches and did as the rest did, and were never 
before so hospitably received. For a few sous we 
bought some slim candles, which we lighted and 
stuck before the pictures of the saints, some little 
bouquets and sprigs of flowers, which we laid on 
the tomb of Christ, erected in the middle of the 
church, and we were then sprinkled with holy 
water from long-necked blue bottles, and were 
given sprigs of orange flowers for ourselves, amid 
the smiles and bows of the priests, deacons, and 
all the assistants. To-night there are to be every- 
where funeral processions, of which I will tell you 
later. 

" It is impossible to give you an idea of the purity 
of the air, the loveliness of the landscape, and the 
charm of everything, from the Acropolis to the 

153 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

Public Garden, and from the peasant to the King. 
Each day seems more delightful than the one pre- 
ceding. Coming here from Constantinople is like 
suddenly emerging into civilization. I feel better 
and younger. We don't even talk politics, though 
I have met nearly the whole diplomatic corps. It 
is quite another atmosphere — moral and intellect- 
ual, as well as physical. 

" The more I see the ruins and the remnants of 
ancient sculpture, the more I am willing to bow 
down before Greek art, and to admit that the 
Greeks of the old days could not do wrong in mat- 
ters of taste. 

" We left Constantinople last Wednesday on the 
Messageries steamer, and after coasting by purple 
islands scattered through a bright blue sea, anch- 
ored off the Piraeus early on Friday morning. An 
hour's drive brought us to Athens. 

" How our days have been spent, except that they 
have been pleasant and happy, I don't think I could 
tell you. We have been to Daphne and Eleusis, 
have ascended Mount Pentelicus, have driven 
through the olive groves of Plato's Academy, have 
been almost daily to the Acropolis, and were pre- 
sented to King George, who was very pleasant and 
amiable and talked to us for a long time. One 
thing we found very delightful, and that was, 
strange to say, the cemetery. Not the modern 
one, but one where people have been resting for 
2,000 years and more; where simple, touching 
tombs have but lately been brought to light. There 

154 



A MEMOIR 

was no suggestion of grief in those sculptures — 
restrained, but sad, farewells. I wish you could see 
them. Unfortunately, photographs never show 
such things exactly as they seem to you when you 
see them; they exaggerate defects and discolora- 
tions, and do not allow your fancy to replace the 
broken noses or smooth the ragged outlines. . . . 

" I believe I began this letter on Good Friday, 
but it is now Easter Sunday in the Greek rite. We 
were at a great ceremony last night at the cathe- 
dral, or, rather, on a platform in front of it. The 
King and Queen and all the Court came to be 
blessed by the Metropolitan at midnight. The 
whole square was alive with lighted candles, and the 
effect was marvellous. Unluckily, Greek church 
music is not as good as Russian, or it would have 
been even grander. The streets were all filled with 
troops, and what with the bands, the people, the 
lights, and the firecrackers and the fireworks, it was 
very gay. Good Friday evening was almost as gay 
in another way with the religious processions, while 
everybody held candles. 

" The fields, hillsides, and roadsides all about here 
are wonderfully gay with wild onion — pink or white 
— daisies, marigolds, scarlet poppies, and blood-red 
anemones — these last the most beautiful of all. 

" The Reads have been very polite to us; far more 
than I had any right to expect, and we have taken 
them in great affection. In general, every one here 
is nice and agreeable, and we are already great 
Philhellenes. . . ." 

155 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

The Schuylers were very fortunate in their house 
(Michaeli Vodu), which was a little out of the city; 
a palace, in a very large garden — the largest in 
Athens except the King's. Their landlord was 
Prince Souzo, a son of that Souzo, a Phanariot 
Greek, who, after being made Hospodar, was start- 
ing for Bucarest, when the Sultan casually men- 
tioned a little service which he could render in return 
for his new honours. Would he be so obliging as 
to send back the head of a certain prominent per- 
sonage in Bucarest. The commission was executed 
in the simple manner of the time, the person in re- 
quest being bidden to a feast. At the end, when 
the guests were dispersing, there was the slight 
gesture usual in such cases, and the head was 
brought in a few moments after. 

In spite of the Arabian Nights entertainments of 
the last generation, the Athenian Souzo was a 
peaceful and agreeable man, who let his palace and 
lived in an apartment in the city. Still, the civili- 
sation of modern Greece is not very old. The 
King's aide-de-camp de Service was Colonel Hadji- 
Petros, the son of the Roi des Montagues; and 
among the Greek Deputies were a few who still 
wore the national costume, and might quite well 
have been brigands in their day. One of them 
stared so long and so fixedly at Mrs. Stanford's dia- 

156 



A MEMOIR 

monds that a bystander exclaimed: " Oh, wouldn't 
he like to catch her in a dark place on her way 
home!" 

It was at a reception at the Schliemanns'. They 
had a handsome house and entertained a great deal. 
As Schliemann delighted in finding that the old 
Greek names were still in use, Madame Schliemann 
(who is a Greek) used to say when engaging a new 
porter: " Your name is Rhadamanthus," and to 
the cook, " Your name is Pelops." On this occa- 
sion Mrs. Stanford had consulted a friend about her 
dress, saying that she was sorry she had left her 
diamonds at home; she only travelled with a few. 
When she entered in her purple and gold gown, she 
was blazing with diamonds from head to foot. 
Everybody stopped talking and looked at her, and, 
after a little, Madame Schliemann said to Mr. 
Schuyler: " Shall I go up and put on my Trojan 
necklace? " " Certainly," he said; and she ran up- 
stairs like a little girl. When she came down she 
said to Mrs. Stanford: " You have your diamonds, 
but I have my necklace, which was dug out of the 
ruins of Troy." 

" My diamonds are older still," said Mrs. Stan- 
ford. " They were dug out of the bowels of the 
earth." 

At this time Tricoupis, the great Greek states- 
157 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

man, was in power. He was the Government. 
His capabilities and endurance seemed unlimited, 
and it used to be said of him, with more or less 
truth, that whenever a Minister resigned, he took 
the vacant place, so that it sometimes happened 
that he held nearly all the portfolios at once. He 
was a strong man and a serious one. Interesting 
he always was, but he did not care for trifling; nor 
could he find leisure or inclination to be so con- 
stantly accessible as is expected in ultra-democratic 
Greece. His devoted sister took that duty upon 
herself. Miss Tricoupis was never known to go out 
of the house, but received from eight o'clock in the 
morning until midnight. A man-servant in Greek 
costume sat on a chair on the pavement, in order 
to be able to direct visitors upstairs. At the head 
of the stairs they knocked on a door, were bidden 
to come in — " Oriste! " — and entered the salon. 
This was a room literally filled with plants and 
flowers. An india-rubber plant reached to the ceil- 
ing; all manner of other things grew in pots, and 
every available spot held plates and vases of flowers, 
principally wild flowers. Miss Tricoupis always sat 
on a sofa at the left of the door. Chairs were 
arranged in a semicircle in front of the sofa, and the 
most distinguished guest was placed beside the 

hostess, in the Continental fashion. Miss Tricoupis 

158 



A MEMOIR 

wore an unchanging costume; a black stuff gown, 
made with a train, with white lace around the 
neck and down the front of the bodice, and her 
hair braided in front a la Grecque. Her face was 
not handsome, but strong and pleasing, with very 
bright, brown eyes. At this time she was a middle- 
aged woman, perhaps a trifle older than her brother. 
She had the vivacity which he lacked, and made 
herself agreeable to every one. Besides this, she 
was able, in the course of a day, to pick up any 
amount of information which he must have found 
useful. Foreigners were welcome to her salon 
during the day, but the evening, when Tricoupis 
himself could be present, was reserved for the 
Greeks; and while others were not forbidden, it was 
generally understood that they would go in the 
daytime. 

There were always Russian ships in the harbor 
and usually many others, and life was gay as far 
as breakfasts, dinners, dances, and entertainments 
of that sort were concerned, but there was no the- 
atre — no opera — not even concerts, except some- 
times at the palace. 

" In spite of scenery, we cannot equal Rome in 
attractions. Tis the Carnival, and dancing is the 
aim of life. You would not suspect me of that, 
and what will you think when I tell you that I 

159 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

opened a the dansant chez nous day before yesterday 
by dancing with the Queen? You know every- 
thing begins small. We have the best dancing- 
room in Athens. 'Twas thought to revive the 
mazurka, which has not been danced since Otho's 
days, and of which the Queen, as a Russian, is very 
fond. At the Russian Court it replaces the cotil- 
lon. So they asked us to give a practising place. 
We were only too glad to consent, for it amuses us 
to have others be amused. The Grand Duke Paul 
(brother of the Emperor of Russia) came once, and 
asked for another. The result was, that on Tues- 
day we gave a dancing afternoon, which seems to 
take here, as saving ball dresses, to which the 
Queen also came with one hundred and ninety 
others and danced for three hours. Now they ask 
for another soon. As royalty has gone to no other 
diplomatic house for three years, the rest don't like 

it, and talk about these d d republicans, but 

what care we? What makes it worse is, that we 
are the only non-Russian diplomats asked to the 
balls and fetes on the Russian ships when the King 
and Queen go. The King says he don't care. 
Neither do I." 

The Queen was still young; she had been married 
at sixteen. She was a devoted mother and a most 
kind and sympathetic woman, very active in works 
of benevolence. She had more gayety of tempera- 
ment than the King, and must have missed the 

160 



A MEMOIR 

large family circle of the Russian Court, with their 
constant informal amusements. 

The afternoon dances were all extremely simple 
affairs. Tea and cakes constituted the principal 
refreshment. On the first occasion a young Rus- 
sian officer said to Mrs. Schuyler: " Your samovar 
isn't nearly big enough. I'll bring ours next time." 
And after that, every time there was a dance at 
Michaeli Vodu, the young Russian appeared with 
the ship's samovar tucked under his arm. 

After hearing about the Queen's dance, the King 
intimated that he would like to go too. 

" Admiral Baldwin has been here now a week 
with the Lancaster, (illegible) and Kearsarge, and 
has been making full atonement for what was 
thought the rudeness of Admiral Nicholson about 
two years ago. I am nearly killed by it all myself. 
We began with an informal dinner and soiree, fol- 
lowed by another. On Monday we had a pretty 
garden-party and dance, where we were much 
helped by the Lancaster's band. One surprise we 
could give to the officers, which was to show them 
more pretty girls than they have the habit of seeing 
out of America. On Wednesday the King break- 
fasted with us at the Legation. We were twenty in 
all; and besides the officers and regulation guest?,. 
we were able to ask the Roumanian Minister and 
the Serbian Minister and his wife; also the Russian 
Vol. I.— ii 161 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

Char ge-d Affaires and Madame Bakhmeteff. It 
passed off remarkably well, both eating and drink- 
ing fairly good, and the Lancaster's orchestra play- 
ing in the next room. The King stayed fully an 
hour and a half afterwards. This is the only foreign 
house he has taken a meal in for very many years, 
except the Russian Legation, where it is de rigueur 
to invite the Queen, as being a Russian Grand 
Duchess." 

It was at this breakfast that the King spoke to 
Mrs. Schuyler of his early life in Greece, and of 
having come there a boy of eighteen, of another 
religion and another language. " My boy will have 
an easier time of it than I have had," he said; " but 
thank God, I have had a happy marriage." 

It is a somewhat thankless task to be the king 
of an intensely democratic people. 

The King and Queen carried themselves very 

royally, and no one knew better than King George 

how to prevent a liberty; but in their private life 

they were extremely simple and natural. When 

Mr. and Mrs. Schuyler were about to leave Athens, 

they were invited to the King's country place at 

Dekeleia to say good-by. A palace has been built 

there since, but then it was a simple country house. 

It was all quite charming, and leaves a pretty picture 

in one's mind — the King making jokes with the 

162 



A MEMOIR 

children and running up-stairs two steps at a time to 
see if the Queen was ready to receive the guests; 
the Queen taking Mrs. Schuyler into her bedroom 
to show her an Ikon which had belonged to Peter 
the Great, and saying: " Do you think Mr. Schuy- 
ler would be shocked if I brought him in here? " 
Everything perfectly unaffected, yet not without 
the proper amount of observances. 

When they were asked to write their names in 
the visitors' book, and it was found that a queen's 
writing materials go astray like other people's, she 
called out, as any other wife might call on the man 
of the house for help: " Oh, Vil — lee, Vil — lee, I 
have no pen; I have no ink! " 

On coming to the throne, the King had been 
obliged to change his name, as well as his language 
and his religion. As King of the Hellenes, he had 
to be George, but in his family he was still " Wil- 
lie." 

A lady spending a day at Dekeleia was asked 
to " Come up-stairs and see the prettiest thing you 
ever saw." She went up, and there was the Queen, 
giving the baby its evening bath, while the King 
looked on and handed sponges and towels. Then 
the other children were put to bed, and their 
mother went around and kissed them all good- 
night, making the sign of the cross over each one. 

163 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

The Queen was a devout member of the Greek 
Church, but the King clung to the faith of his 
childhood; or, rather, King George belonged to the 
Greek Church: " Villee " was a Lutheran. 

Among all the social diversions there was no 
lack of serious occupation. " Peter the Great " 
was finished in Athens and came out in book form. 



To A. A. Adee. 

" November 5, 1883. 
" My Dear Adee : I have been feeling of late 
that I have been neglecting you — officially — 
but I have always remembered that it is far more 
of a bore for you to read a despatch than it is for 
me to write it, and I have thus quieted my diplo- 
matic and consular conscience. In point of fact, I 
have been working very hard ever since the first 
of August at finishing ' Peter the Great,' and I 
have sent off, on the average, forty 8vo pages of 
print a week, which has thus relieved the Depart- 
ment. I am happy to say that this great feat has 
been accomplished, and I think you will (modesty 
of no account) find the copy I shall send you worth 
your reading. You will tell me afterwards. But on 
parting from this companion of so many years, I 
don't quite know what to do next, and to keep my- 
self from having brain fever and to cure a bad cold — 
for even in my orange and lemon garden, with my 
tame owl and tortoise, I have a cold — I am going 

164 



A MEMOIR 

to Corfu for a week, leaving the newly raised 
' vexed question ' of the suppression of free Bible 
distribution until my return. Perhaps by that time 
I shall be more inclined to agree with the Synod, 
and think it even worse than I do now. . . . 
" Pray remember me to all, and believe me 
Yours most sincerely, 

Eugene Schuyler." 



To A. A. Adee. 

"January 30, 1884. 

" My Dear Adee : I have ordered my publishers 
to send you a copy of my ' Peter the Great.' But 
I can scarcely expect you to read it, as it is all 
prose and no poetry. You will, however, I hope, 
make semblance of reading it, and in due time send 
me a little compliment. Just now I am working 
on a translation of some old Russian travellers — one 
as early as the thirteenth century in Constantinople 
before the Latin conquest. I began them years 
ago. 

" I am delighted with a recent circular of the De- 
partment, asking information about the culture of 
raisins, figs, olives, etc., partly because it revives 
all my old botanical tastes, and partly because it 
gives me occasion for various petty excursions to 
the islands. I shall set about the work at once, and 
only hope I can do it justice; not that I expect 
much from Greek agri- and arboriculture. 

"Another thing, too; it makes me put an end 
165 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

to a period of dissipation which has lasted too long, 
beginning with the daily practice of the mazurka 
in our salon and ending with an afternoon dance 
here, in which the Queen and the Grand Duke Paul 
took a lively part. Did I say ending? I have 
been out nearly every night since, and that, added 
to dances on the Russian ships, has nearly finished 
me. I absolutely need solitude in the olive groves 
with Theocritus. With good weather — we have 
snow here — there is nothing like that. 
Yours most sincerely, 

Eugene Schuyler." 

At this time the American School of Archaeology 
at Athens was in its infancy, and a man of Mr. 
Schuyler's tastes could not fail to be deeply inter- 
ested in its success. What he could do for it, he 
did, more in the way of moral support than in any 
other way, although he was occasionally able to 
obtain gifts of money. He wrote in April, 1883: 

" The school is getting on very well, and fortu- 
nately some excellent Americans have been here 
who can witness to its utility. Sturgis is here now, 
as well as Professor Thayer and Professor Green- 
ough, of Harvard. ... In order to show the 
good feeling of the Government here, Professor 
Goodwin was invited twice to dine at Court, and 
has also been invited to the balls there." 



166 



A MEMOIR 

One of the last pleasant incidents of Mr. Schuy- 
ler's official residence in Greece was a series of short 
cruises on the Undine, a little yacht which he hired 
for a time. 

" I have just got back from another cruise; this 
time to the Cyclades, when I saw something of six, 
the prettiest being Tinos, and Karystos on the 
south end of Eubcea, and by far the most interest- 
ing, Delos. In its utter desolation it is more in- 
teresting to me than Olympia; but then it was the 
seat of a finer religion. . . . 

' The proposed abolition of this Legation is mere- 
ly the absurd economy-cry. The Democrats want to 
save $100,000 on the Consular and Diplomatic Ser- 
vice, and then give outright a million to the New 
Orleans Exposition (which promises, however, to 
be very remarkable, and you may find it worth while 
going there). The Department of State has taken 
up the defence of this Mission, saying very nice 
things about me and of the Service generally with 
unusual warmth and energy. The Senate has 
greatly amended the House bill, and it now remains 
to see what will be done in the Conference Com- 
mittee." 

To Russell Sturgis. 

"July 23, 1884. 
" My Dear Sturgis : Consummatum est. . . . 
The Diplomatic Agency at Cairo is reduced to a 
simple consulate. The Consul-General at Constan- 
tinople is reduced nearly half, and is no longer Sec- 

167 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

retary of Legation. This Legation is utterly abol- 
ished. A Consul-General will be appointed at 
Bucarest at $3,500 and a Consul here at $2,500. 
The total saving on this place is $1,000. No provis- 
ion is made for any officer at Belgrade. So far as I 
know, I am legislated out of official existence; for 
I know of no vacancy where I can be stored until 
wanted for future use. Therefore, as far as I know, 
I am a private man and my own master. I don't 
so much object to the situation as to the moment 
when it comes. ... I have a house on my 
hands up to the middle of November. Therefore, 
I think I shall stay here until the late autumn. At 
all events, I have a house over my head — my books 
around me; I can pack up at leisure, and perhaps 
do a little work. And yet, when I am in trouble 
and perplexity, I find it very hard to work. It is 
only when I am comfortable and prosperous that 
my brain works easily and that my hand follows. 

" Here is one hardship. Congress passed the law 
July 6th, to take effect July 1st. I did not know it 
till the 14th." 

When the letters of recall came, that to Serbia 
was written to Prince instead of King, and the one 
to Greece to the King of Greece, instead of King 
of the Hellenes. They had to be sent back, caus- 
ing much delay and annoyance. Later he writes : 

" I am on my way to Belgrade and Bucarest, to 
take leave and present my letters of recall. It is 

168 



A MEMOIR 

an expensive journey, and at the present time un- 
comfortable, for I do not see how I can escape a 
quarantine on returning. However, I cannot af- 
ford to be impolite, even if the Government chooses 
to be. I have known the Kings of Serbia and 
Roumania since 1876, and they have always been 
very amiable to me. The Department said that if 
it were inconvenient to present my letters in person 
I could send them to the Foreign Offices. But 
these small countries are very sensitive — for such 
a proceeding with England or France would hardly 
be remarked — and I am patriotic enough to wish 
to soften the withdrawal of the Mission as much as 
possible, even at my own expense. I shall try to 
get repayment out of the Government, but have 
little hope of it." 

This had been a very happy and successful period 
of his life. A dozen years later, a visitor returning 
from Athens said: "It is astonishing how the 
Schuylers are still loved and lamented there." 

VIII 
Mr. Schuyler returned to America in November, 
1884, an d he and his wife established themselves 
for the winter in Washington. During the follow- 
ing year he delivered at Johns Hopkins and Cornell 
Universities the lectures afterwards embodied in the 
book entitled " American Diplomacy," which was 

published in 1886. 

169 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

There was every indication that if he had chosen 
to stay in America and resume the practice of the 
law, his peculiar experience and training would 
have brought him an important practice. His de- 
cision to leave his own country at this period of his 
career was an error of judgment, of which he after- 
wards became conscious. But literature was al- 
ways more attractive to him than law; and he longed 
for the out-of-door life of a southern climate. In 
March, 1886, he settled in Alassio, on the Riviera, 
which remained his head-quarters until he went to 
Cairo, in September, 1889. 

For the moment the restful life was very agree- 
able. The villa, Molino di Sopra, was a pleasant 
place, with one of the lovely terraced gardens com- 
mon in that locality. The owners of the villas 
about Alassio are much given over to gardening, 
and he was an important member of the enthusiastic 
band. He had gone to Alassio mentally and physi- 
cally tired, but his natural elasticity was great and 
the surroundings were restorative. He soon be- 
gan to plan literary work, and to feel the need of 
getting in touch with people and things in Italy. 
In June he wrote from Parma : 

" I am on a little journey. It seemed to me that 
I was not quite Italianised, and I needed to see more 
of the country and fall into Italian ways of thought. 

170 



A MEMOIR 

Out on the edge, in Liguria, we see too many for- 
eigners and too few cultivated natives. . . . 
There have come suggestions to my mind which 
may turn me off into a new track. For somehow 
I cannot resist the temptation to write, or at least 
to study for writing ultimately. Taking in knowl- 
edge in one way, working it over, and letting it 
out in a different form begins to attract me for its 
own sake." 

A temporary decrease of income made him feel 
that the gap must be filled by something less leis- 
urely than literature, and he made an arrangement 
with the New York Herald for occasional corre- 
spondence. This was not an agreeable step to take, 
and he only did it from a sense of duty. " I don't 
want, but our income has been reduced, and I 
must." 

About the same time he was spending some of 
his time in looking up out-of-the-way words and 
their definitions for the " Century Dictionary," on 
which his friend, Mr. Russell Sturgis, was engaged. 
This was a pursuit which interested and amused 
him greatly, and for which, with his stores of un- 
usual and accurate information, he was peculiarly 
fitted. 

In pursuance of his arrangement with the Herald 

he spent about two months in Vienna in the early 

171 



EUGENE SOHUYLER 

winter of 1887. One of the interesting events of 
this visit was the meeting with the Bulgarian Depu- 
tation in search of a Prince. They told him that 
the Prince of Coburg, on whom their choice finally 
fell, and who became Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, 
had never occurred to them until suggested by him 
at that time. 

A few months later he and his wife were stopping 
in Mentone at the time of the famous earthquake 
of that year. 

To G. Bakhmeteff. 

"Alassio, March 10, 1887. 

" My Dear Jack : Ever since your telegram I 
have been intending to write, but you know in such 
times one can't always do as one chooses. 

"We had gone to Mentone for a dinner-party with 
the expectation of going on to Nice and Cannes 
for the like. The very morning that we were to 
breakfast at Nice came the earthquake at six. Of 
course there was no getting off, as the trains were 
too full of runaways. So the next day we came 
back to Alassio, after spending five hours at the 
station, to come back to Italy on a train with no 
passengers, simply because the fugitives had about 
6,000 trunks at the station bound the other way, 
and they would look after them first. As no tele- 
grams had come, we supposed Alassio safe, and were 
much surprised on arriving to find that the whole 

172 



A MEMOIR 

town had fallen down, but the villas safe; ours, how- 
ever — as luck will be — the worst damaged. To go 
back — it seems an age. Having seen several small 
earthquakes, and supposing this not to be an earth- 
quake region, I lay calmly in bed, happening to be 
awake at the time, wondering when it was going to 
stop . . . and then when part of the front of the 
hotel came off, G. and I found ourselves under the 
archway of the door. Somehow I had managed to 
put some clothes on. She had very little. We went 
into the garden. She shivered and I went up again, 
enjoying the view of the distant mountains through 
the fissures in the walls, to get some more clothes. 
Unluckily, she had packed up the night before, and 
it was very hard to hit on anything. I had my 
money in my pocket; diamonds and jewels were out 
of the question; but I seized what I could, even the 
blankets from the bed. But while I was groping 
about in the twilight came a second shock, almost as 
bad as the first. She did — I don't know what — in 
the garden, and I — well, imagine anything you like. 
However, I got down-stairs, and, although we 
were perfectly safe, we followed example and went 
to the Public Gardens, where Howard and I held 
up a blanket and She put on a dress, and then my 
brilliant yellow and brown plaid dressing-gown from 
Vienna, and then blankets over her head. Howard 
found a Kiosque; they gave us brandy and biscuits; 
we revived ourselves and then others, especially one 
very pretty girl. Then we went back to the hotel, 
had coffee — the strong-minded servants (though 

173 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

they left that day) wanted to know if we wished 
hot water, baths, etc. We packed up entirely and 
left nothing; we had our luggage brought down- 
stairs, and then went to see how our friends had 
fared. (Our friends are the Andrews. Him you 
met in Athens; she is Cyrus Field's daughter.) 
They were very nervous; their house was unharmed, 
but the shock had gone about one hundred feet the 
other side. A number of people already there, in- 
cluding a Dresden baroness, a grand-niece of Sir 
Walter Scott, and two very shaky old New Yorkers 
named Watts. We took coffee again, and then the 
third shock came, when we preferred the dew to 
the coffee. Andrews, however, was very calm, re- 
mained up-stairs, and insisted on having a long, 
scientific discussion with me, and refused to come 
down till he chose, or let his carriage take the 
Watts home, lest he should never see it again. 
(The Watts, however, got home and took their nine 
o'clock drive, as if nothing had happened.) Then 
a sad day. We couldn't get away; we went to 
Rumpelmayer's, had kiimmel and bitters, then to 
see the ruins, then to Rumpelmayer's, etc., etc., etc. 
The telegraph office was in ruins; an office rigged 
up in a hotel garden, with one wire, four hundred 
English women and men waiting to send telegrams. 
We — that is, Howard and I — couldn't stand it; by 
great good luck got tickets, went to Monte Carlo, 
to send telegrams and postal-cards. Of course we 
played on all the earthquake numbers, and, strange 
to say, always lost, when we ought to have won. 

174 



A MEMOIR 

At last we went to the Grand Hotel to dine, and 
found old Admiral Baldwin and his wife and a lot 
of other people whom we knew. At Monte Carlo 
there had been only an uneasy feeling, and they 
were much astonished at our tales. Finally, in de- 
spair, we came back to Mentone, found the ground 
floor of the Andrews' villa covered with beds, and a 
motley, but pleasant, company. Unfortunately, at 
each alarm they routed us out, and finally we were 
forbidden to go back to the house. The garden 
was very damp and cold. Howard sat in the street 
in front of a fire which they built for him, and we 
took a deserted carriage and slept for three hours. 
And we could have been comfortable indoors, had 
we known it; for there was a room with a fire and 
a private entrance into the garden, where it was 
very cold and damp. 

" We could stand it no longer and made up our 
minds to come back to Alassio as soon as possible, 
having no idea as to its state. We went to the sta- 
tion at about nine, but there was such an accumula- 
tion of luggage that we couldn't get off till about 
two o'clock. The farther on we went, the more 
ruins we saw, except at San Remo, which is intact, 
and the more we began to think that our own 
house had fallen down. It was not, however, so 
bad as that. Nearly every house in the town itself 
is uninhabitable, but the villas are safe enough, 
though the walls and ceilings of our bedrooms are 
so badly cracked that we are sleeping in the study, 
drawing-room, and dining-room. The rest of the 

175 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

population was in the fields, or a few favoured ones 
in railway wagons. Now most of them have little 
wooden huts. At last, too, they have begun to pull 
down and repair the town where it is possible. 
Here there were only three old women killed, but 
the material damage is very great and falls chiefly 
on poor, ruined, decayed gentlemen, and mezzo ceto, 
who get a scanty living from the rents of their 
houses and rooms. Some houses had as many as 
twenty owners, for single rooms were bought and 
sold. At Diano Marina, not far off, there were 
over two hundred killed, and every house is down. 
All must be blown up by dynamite and rebuilt. 
Diano Castello is just as bad, but the loss of life is 
less. I had to accompany our consul to these places 
the other day and walk through the whole. I 
wished him at the bottom of the sea, for we had 
had a little shake, which drove us from the break- 
fast-table, and sent down walls at Diano, nearly 
killing two soldiers. One couldn't help thinking 
that another shock might come when we were in 
the middle of it all. 

" It is only two days now that we have been quite 
free from little shocks, and I think even with this 
that there have been some tremors. We cannot 
quite get reconciled to them; and when the pigeons 
all fly away from the window-ledge at once it gives 
my heart such a quiver as makes me want a glass of 
vodka. At the same time we don't feel equal to go- 
ing away, unless for a long time, and that we cannot 
do just now. Besides, we want to give a good ex- 

176 



A MEMOIR 

ample to the rest. The worst of it is, that the 
shocks came chiefly at night, and seemed to prefer 
from four to six in the morning. We have had to 
put all our clothes near the door, so as to grab them 
when we ran out, to sleep with the outside door 
open, with lights everywhere, with a bottle of 
brandy and water already mixed in the garden, 
and cold bouillon and sandwiches on the hall table. 
We devoutly hope that you will never have such 
experiences and we never again. . . . 
" We both send much love. 

Ever yours, 

Eugene Schuyler." 

" On reading this letter over to Gertrude, I find it 
very mixed and repeating, but you must lay that 
to our tremors and quivers. — E. S. 

" March n, j.jo P.M.— I was just going to close 
this letter ten minutes ago, when we had the worst 
shock we have had since the first." 

The strain of living for several months with con- 
tinual shocks of earthquake and continual expec- 
tation of worse ones was greater than appeared at 
the time, and left him somewhat run down. From 
Castrocaro, where he went for a course of baths, he 
wrote: 

" I amuse myself with reading, even in my bath. 
Byron's and Shelley's poems took me to their lives, 
and Landor's Life has taken me to his poems. 
Vol. i.— 12 177 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

How wonderful Gebir and Count Julian are ! Now 
I'd like to read a little of Southey, but he seems 
so very dead that he is not even in Vieusseux. I 
remember about things which I read years ago and 
liked. I have also read the greater part of Moore's 
poems, and want now to get hold of his Journals. 
I must try Wordsworth, though I rather hate the 
thought. I am now in Lady Blessington's novels, 
having read three volumes of her life and letters. 
Dickens conies next. The fact is, that all these peo- 
ple knew, and most of them either loved or hated 
one another, and thus I am led on, and all because 
I saw Byron's and Shelley's houses at Pisa last 
April." 

A little later he wrote from Alassio: 

" Of late I am entirely devoted to Italian history 
and memoirs of the early part of this century. . . . 
For serious reading I have a canto of Dante every 
morning before my bath and tea. Longfellow's 
translation amuses me very much. You cannot 
possibly understand it unless you have read the 
original. I dare say that at first it was very good, 
but that little Dante Club sat on it every week, 
until they quite squashed all the poetry, and even 
the verse out of it. . . . 

" In reality, I am lazy by nature, and yet I am 
never so happy as when hard at work. But I like 
to get off quickly what I have in my head, and 
writing bothers me. I really can't do much with- 

178 



A MEMOIR 

out a shorthand writer and clerk, and that here is 
impossible. Indeed, I fear that I need a good deal, 
and was looking back with delight to Athens at the 
time I was finishing ' Peter.' I must have, in ad- 
dition, a good study, with my man in the next 
room, table, lights, many books, etc.; then mild 
weather, so that I can get up early, and finally a 
country not so hilly as this, with a carriage, and 
facilities for making excursions where I can stay a 
day or two, when I always read greatly. Here I 
have most of this, except the carriage and the level 
country. It is a bore always to walk up and down 
hill." 

The early summer of 1888 found him in Bologna, 
attending the festivities in honour of the eight hun- 
dredth anniversary of the university. On this oc- 
casion he represented Yale, Columbia, Johns Hop- 
kins, and Cornell Universities and the State Univer- 
sity of Iowa. His detailed description of the com- 
memorative ceremonies was sent to the New York 
Nation, and his private letters contain only jottings. 
From Bologna he went on by short stages to Ven- 
ice, picking up material for the series of short arti- 
cles which he was at this time writing. 

" I had six delightful weeks at Venice, two days 
at Bassano and Possagno, a fortnight at Said, on 
Lago di Garda, and a week at Brescia, which pleased 

179 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

us very much. Gertrude and I are studying up 
Lady Mary Wortley's ' Italian Life,' and we have 
seen some pleasant places and made some agreeable 
acquaintances in consequence. . . . 

" The Nation has let you know from time to time 
where I have been and what I have been doing. 
They have three or four articles still on hand, and 
I have as many more nearly ready. It has amused 
me to write them, and especially to read up for 
them; for each of them represents two or three 
thousand pages of reading, and some of them have 
been in outline in my head for a year and more. 
Indeed, I have read more English literature and 
more real literature in general than for many, many 
years before. And I have enjoyed it, too! 

" On the whole, I am more than usually satisfied 
with myself. I have told you what to think about 
Bulgaria in two articles in the New Princeton Re- 
view (for which or for some other reason I have 
received the Grand Cordon of the Bulgarian order 
of St. Alexander), I have enlightened you on our 
Consular Service in The America of Chicago, and 
on Mr. Bayard anent of ' Marriages Abroad ' in 
the North American, besides three stories, which 
repose and will long repose in manuscript. At 
present I am trying to enlighten you on the ad- 
vantages of Commercial Treaties, and on the rela- 
tions of the Pope to the Italian Government. For 
lighter work I have Canova, Corinne, Ruskin, Mrs. 
Browning, and Smollett, not to speak of others on 

the stocks or in them." 

1 80 



A MEMOIR 

The political situation in America interested 
him greatly, and in November he wrote : " Things 
happen just now to be in that state that our for- 
eign policy during the next ten years will make a 
great point in the history of the nation." And 
again, December 30th: 

" I am writing out some of my ideas about for- 
eign policy, but I shall probably send the article 
to the North American, as it will be too long for 
a mere newspaper. I am working also at one or 
two shorter things on the same subject or similar 
ones. I don't exactly like to write anything for 
the Post, simply for the purpose of being refuted. 
It seems to me as if you all had chosen to typify 
all that seemed to you most objectionable in the 
single person of Blaine, regardless of whether he 
really possesses all of these characteristics. It 
seemed to me during the campaign that Godkin 
weakened his case by harping too much on Blaine 
and his wickedness. I fear that you are all too 
busy in America to get interested in more than 
one or two issues at a time; and now that you all 
go in for tariff reform and civil-service reform, you 
forget that a nation as great as ours has other 
duties and interests which must also be looked 
after." 

When, in March, 1889, Mr. Blaine was made 
Secretary of State, he offered the Assistant Secre- 
taryship to Mr. Schuyler by telegraph. The latter 

181 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

had been hoping that a foreign mission would 
reinstate him in the Diplomatic Service, and this 
appointment took him entirely by surprise. The 
pay was very small, the work was hard, and the 
expenses were great; but in every other respect the 
position was attractive to him, and he telegraphed 
his acceptance, and at once began his preparations 
for departure. In a few days came another tele- 
gram from Mr. Blaine, asking him to refuse the 
nomination, offering a European post, and promis- 
ing explanations by letter. There was but one 
thing to do — to comply with the request and await 
the explanation. While awaiting it, he wrote : 

" Perhaps a great favour is done me, perhaps I 
am sacrificed in an ingenious way. But I can't help 
myself. ... I had made up my mind to four 
years of Washington, and Washington life, which 
I love, with all its surprises and opportunities, and 
am therefore disappointed. I had hoped, perhaps, 
to make some reforms, and do a little good to the 
country, as well as to help a few deserving people 
and do something to raise the consular standard. 
For all that, I was willing to make some sacrifices, 
though I feared that it would end in my financial 
ruin. I shall now probably be able to go on with 
the mild literary work, to which I have taken a 
liking, and shall be in every way more indepen- 
dent." 

182 



A MEMOIR 

The opposition to his confirmation, which was 
the cause of the withdrawal of his nomination, 
was generally supposed to have been caused by the 
fact that in his " American Diplomacy " he had 
made certain statements concerning the official ac- 
tions of a man who had at one time held a high 
office in the Government. In point of fact, while 
this was one of the causes, his connection with the 
bill uniting the offices of Secretary of Legation and 
Consul-General at Rome was possibly an even more 
important factor. In spite of his philosophy and 
his mental resources, it would be useless to deny 
that he was disappointed and for a time depressed. 
He never did deny it — he only made the best of it. 

In connection with this appointment there were 
some touching incidents. He received a large 
number of letters and petitions from Armenians, 
reminding him of his services to humanity at the 
time of the Bulgarian massacres, and begging him, 
now that he was to be in power, to induce the 
United States Government to interpose in behalf 
of the oppressed Armenians. Perhaps nothing 
went to his heart more than his powerlessness to 
respond to these appeals. 

As to the promised European post, he wrote : 

" Think of my uncertainty — anywhere from To- 
bolsk to Tangiers. We have settled ourselves in 

183 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

imagination in Paris, Frankfurt, Athens, Constan- 
tinople, Cairo, and even Calcutta. We live a day 
in each in turn." 

To Herbert Tuttle. 

"ALASSIO, May n, 1889. 

" My Dear Tuttle : Many thanks for your let- 
ter of April 27th, which came this morning. The 
' Schuyler incident ' requires some work to ex- 
plain; but I have every confidence in Mr. Blaine's 
wishes and intentions, and I hope that will justify 
us. 

" Briefly thus : I had asked for a diplomatic post, 
especially the Roman mission. To my surprise, 
I was offered by telegraph the Assistant Secretary- 
ship, my chief friend being notified at the same 
time. There was a reason, and the offer was seri- 
ous. Aside from what Mr. B knew about 

me before, I had an opportunity in Rome last 
spring, though a private man, and not having 
been there for eight years, to manage for him one 
or two little diplomatic matters that no one in the 
Legation was able to do. 

" The objections against me on the part of certain 
senators were not political, but from such petty, 
trifling, personal reasons, that, had I been in Wash- 
ington, I could have stopped it all by threatening 
to tell the true cause. But even had I started I 

should have been too late. Mr. B asked me 

by telegram to decline, not saying why, and prom- 
ising me a European post. This I did. Had I 

184 



A MEMOIR 

known of the Senate opposition to me, I should 
have declined sooner for a patriotic reason : it is es- 
sential to the success of an administration that the 
State Department and the Senate Committee on 
Foreign Relations should work well together. 
Now Sherman, the chairman, is, or has been, a 
rival of Blaine; while Edmunds has not for years 
been on speaking terms with him. I could not 
properly, by fighting for a confirmation, increase 
this tension. 

" If Mr. Blaine offers me a place that I can accept, 
as he has promised others, as well as myself, that 
he will do, I shall come to America in the winter, 
and I have no doubt of my confirmation if I am on 
the spot, though I may have to show fight. I am 
willing to accept one or two places that would 
otherwise be unacceptable, simply for the purpose 
of setting myself right before the public. . . . 

" I have been doing a great deal of work, and 
writing, with the great amount of reading neces- 
sarily involved, is now my chief amusement. The 
Nation still has five of my Italian articles on hand, 
besides some reviews, including a long one of 
Mme. de Stael. You have probably seen one of 
my articles on Tolstoy (as he wrote his name) in 
Scribner's for May, and you will find one which 
will interest you on ' American Marriages Abroad ' 
in the North American for April. Every once in 
awhile the old habit comes over me, and I write, 
what would once have been a report or despatch 
to the Department. . . ." 

185 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 
To Mrs. Schaeffer. 

"ALASSIO, May 25, 1889. 

" My Dear Eva : It rejoices me that you have 
liked my Tolstoy article. I hope to follow it up 
with some more, but they will not have that in- 
terest of actuality, nor will they give much, if any, 
of my personal experience. One is written, though 
not corrected, called Corinne, which is an account 
of one of Mme. de StaeTs flirtations (I have al- 
ready sent a review to the Nation on Lady Blenner- 
hasset's life of her); Lady M. W. Montagu, that 
I have been preparing for ever since last summer; 
and perhaps Corilla, the improvisatrice, with 
Florentine and Roman life in the last century. 
Also 'Two Petty Sovereigns': 1, Napoleon, Lord 
of Elba; 2, Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma. 

" Here is a list of small subjects. If you want 
anything done quickly, say so, as I am blown 
about by every wind. They all enter into the cadre 
of my ' Italian Influences ' (don't mention that 
title): Pisa, Leigh Hunt; Florence, George Eliot, 
Countess of Albany; Rome, Lady Blessington, 
Queen Christina, Hans Christian Andersen, Cha- 
teaubriand, Thorwaldsen; Bologna, Lady Morgan, 
Rogers; Chiozzia, Goldoni; Venice, G. P. R. 
James, Cooper, Ruskin, Moore; Mantua, Sordel- 
lo; Naples, Alexandre Dumas. Also somewhere 
Stendhal, N. P. Willis, and Miss Sedgwick, 
Madame Mere (Bonaparte); Ugo Foscolo, Ros- 
sini, Metastasio, etc., etc. The list is very easy to 

186 



A MEMOIR 

extend. I have just sent off an article on Haw- 
thorne. That on Smollett will be published at 
once. I don't know why I should inflict all this 
on you, except that it is pleasant to talk about 
what I am interested in just now more than any- 
thing else. . . ." 

On July 2, 1889, while on a visit to Zurich, he 
received the announcement of his appointment as 
Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General at Cairo. 
He wrote to his wife, " It is like beginning a new 
career." 

To Herbert Tuttle. 

" Zurich, July 23, 1889. 
" My Dear Tuttle : Many thanks for your con- 
gratulations and your letter of July 7th. Cairo 
was one of the places I had expressed a willingness 
to take, and even a preference for, over Athens 
again. You understand, what is not so well known 
in America, that over here the post is rated as of 
first importance, that the Agent ranks as Minister, 
and that it is a place of great political interest. 
After seeing the intrigues of Oriental powers like 
Russia, England, and Turkey, it will be interesting 
to witness those of Western powers on Eastern 
soil. I shall regret being cut off from libraries, and 
I hope that I shall not be bitten with the mania for 
Egyptology, almost thinking to take up the study 
of the Alexandrine period in self-defence. 

" By the way, in coming to Switzerland on a semi- 
187 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

literary journey, I have in full view daily here the 
house in which Bluntschli was born, and have 
visited Neuchatel, the early home of Vatel. In 
general, my Swiss tour has been very fertile, and 
something may yet come of it. I have been par- 
ticularly interested in the bearing of the Swiss dur- 
ing this last crisis. I saw many old friends among 
the diplomats at Berne, and had quite a talk with 
Droz, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. . . . 

" I shall leave for Egypt about the end of August. 
Probably I shall come to America to see about my 
confirmation, in which case I'll see you. You'll 
find in the September number of the Political Sci- 
ence Quarterly a short article of mine on Italian 
immigration. With regards to Mrs. Tuttle, 
Yours ever, 

Eugene Schuyler." 

Even in the pleasure of a return to the profession 
which he preferred, he did not disengage himself 
from literary interests. A letter written while he 
was still in Zurich contains the following outline of 
a projected work : 

" To amuse you and show you that my mind has 
not been idle, I send a prospectus of my proposed 
book. 22-24 I have not yet visited, and I should 
like to make royalty complete by adding Prangins, 
with Jerome Napoleon, his father and mother, 
whose diary is just being published. You see that 
I have a good deal of work cut out, but I have so 

188 



A MEMOIR 

much material that with a shorthand writer it would 
go very fast. In treating of the reformers, I shall 
take a modified Catholic view, which has not been 
done in English with the new lights; but I should 
tell of their private lives, etc., rather than of their 
religious ideas. 

" Does it look like a book that you or any one 
else would want to read? " 

Swiss Associations. 

I. Geneva in 1816 (Byron, Stael, Shelley, 
Countess Bruce, etc., etc.). 
II. Geneva— Calvin and the Heretics. 

III. Coppet — Benjamin Constant. 

IV. Geneva — Bonstettin. 
V. Geneva — Voltaire, etc. 

VI. Chillon— Bonivard and Peter of Savoy. 
VII. Lausanne— Madame de Charriere, Gib- 
bon, etc. 
VIII. Payerm — The two Jominis. 
IX. Yverdon— Pestalozzi and Education. 
X. Neuchatel — Rousseau. 
XI. Geneva— Toppfer, Cherbuliez, Zschokke, 

and Swiss Novelists. 
XII. Berne in the Eighteenth Century. 
XIII. Basel— Erasmus and Paracelsus. 
XIV. Sackingen— Schleppel. 
XV. Constanz— John Huss and Pan-Slavic 

Patriotism. 
XVI. St. Gall— Gustavus IV. (very affecting). 
189 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

XVII. St. Gall — Vadian, Kenler, and his funny 
adventure with Luther. 
XVIII. Zurich— Zwingli. 
XIX. Zurich — Lavater, the pietist and physiog- 
nomist, the Russians, and the French. 
XX. Rapperschwyl — Koszciuszko. 
XXI. Rapperschwyl — Caroline Bauer and Leo- 
pold I. and Stockmar. 
XXII. Einsiedeln. 

XXIII. Chur and Louis Philippe. 

XXIV. Arenenberg and Louis Napoleon, the Don 

Juan of Canton Thurgau. 
XXV. Luzerne— William Tell. 



IX 



Mr. Schuyler did not reach Cairo until October 
ist, owing to delays about his papers. It seemed 
wiser, in consideration of possible difficulties about 
confirmation, to keep the house in Alassio for an- 
other year, and Mrs. Schuyler decided to remain 
there for a time, especially as they were expecting 
to go to America later in the season. This journey 
was finally given up, but in view of the uncertain- 
ties of the situation, he did not settle himself in any 
permanent way; and his Cairo house remained only 
half furnished. He had with him, as Vice and 
Deputy Consul, a nephew, to whom he was much 
attached. 



190 



A MEMOIR 

" Cairo, October 14, 1889. 

" My Dear Evelyn : Your letter of September 
13th came to me here, where I arrived ten days 
ago, after being obliged to spend a few days in 
Alexandria. It seems much the same as ever, and 
I have not yet tired of looking at the people. But 
the moist heat at this season, when the Nile is 
overflowed, and the consequent flies, mosquitoes, 
etc., beggar all description. I have to attend to 
work, to make official calls, and to bother about 
the house, but it is far too hot even to look at rugs 
and portieres. That will come later. 

" Louis 1 has been appointed my Vice and Dep- 
uty, and I shall hurry to have him here, as I have 
no one at all to write or copy for me. . . . My 
predecessor . . . took the house before I 
came, owing to the stupid blunders which delayed 
me. It does not quite suit me, but we can manage 
to live in it, especially with our pretty garden, 
which we hope to make still prettier. I am going 
to furnish a bedroom temporarily and take up my 
abode there, for the hotel is too expensive. The 
house, being built by a Turk or Arab, is full of 
absurd, useless passages, so as to allow women and 
servants to disappear in every direction. Not to 
speak of the ground floor, where I must create a 
kitchen, we have on the first floor two halls, four 
passages, two staircases, a coffee-kitchen, a Turk- 
ish bath, various closets, etc., a large salon, and 
four other good rooms, besides one which will serve 

1 His nephew, Louis Bedell Grant. 
191 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

for the servants' dining-room. On the floor above 
are seven good rooms, besides four passages, etc. 
My present household consists of the first Janissary, 
Suleiman, a light-colored Arab, in a gorgeously 
embroidered costume, speaking English; the 
second Janissary nominally, but really a very good 
body-servant, the blackest nigger you ever saw, in 
similar attire, named Farak, brought from the 
Soudan by Gordon, and trained by Lady Vivian; 
a boab, or gate-keeper, named AH; and a gardener 
called Abdullah. All these more or less paid by 
the Government. Then we shall bring Francesco 
and Barbara, and, of course, have a cook. Last 
winter, as Cardwell says, about five hundred Amer- 
icans called at the Consulate, and the year before 
about twelve hundred. And as the season lasts 
from four to six months, that alone gives work. 

" But I am hungry, this being 7 a.m., before my 
bath, so good-by. 

Ever affectionately, 

Eugene." 

To his Wife. 

"Cairo, Monday, November 25, 1889. 
". . . This week has gone like a flash, and has 
been so taken up that I have had time for nothing. 
First, it was necessary to instal Louis; then there 
have been lots of Americans who wanted things; 
and finally, on Saturday, I was received by the 
Khedive. Everybody says that it was a very fine 
ceremony, but being inside a gilt coach, drawn by 

192 



A MEMOIR 

six horses, with an escort of cavalry, Louis and 
Lynch (whom I had temporarily attached) follow- 
ing in another, I didn't see much of it. But there 
were salutes of cannon (twenty-one guns) from the 
citadel, and the band played " Hail, Columbia." 
My suite were much impressed with my demeanor, 
especially Louis, and the hotel was crowded with 
spectators. We made our little speech, then we 
sat down and smoked jewelled tchibouks about ten 
feet long, which were arranged with such mathe- 
matical precision that I could scarcely keep from 
laughing, as, including the whole Cabinet, we were 
about twenty people. Then coffee in jewelled cups 
or cup-holders; and then as I went away a sword 
was hung over my shoulders. The master of cere- 
monies accompanied me back and came in. Then 
the Minister of Foreign Affairs called in state. A 
special salon, coffee, and cigarettes. Then five 
minutes afterwards we went in state (Suleiman hav- 
ing new clothes and sword for the occasion) to call 
on the Minister of Foreign Affairs. That night 
we were at a friend's to see a dance of Arabs, and 
yesterday I was so used up that we took refuge 
with the Pyramids and the Sphinx, and had a nice 
lunch there. All this morning we have been mak- 
ing official calls, and have been working hard all 
the afternoon. . . ." 



Vol. I.— 13 193 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 



To Mrs. Schaeffer. 



" The Nile, near Maragha, January 17, 1890. 

" My Dear Eva : Receiving two letters from 
you makes me think that it is very long since I 
wrote to you. Of course here in a dahabiyeh I 
don't have all the distracting occupations and wor- 
ries of Cairo, but I find that reading, work, sight- 
seeing, and a rough sea like the present interfere 
with letter-writing. In fact, the Nile life does not 
come up to my ideal, especially as we have gener- 
ally had too cold winds to sit on deck, and the sun 
has not always shone. The trip has been an in- 
teresting one, but I have had enough of tombs and 
temples, of mud towns, and native visitors. How- 
ever, I have had a rest, and have accomplished my 
consular inspection. I feel as if I were beginning 
to know something about Egypt. To-day we are 
bored by the strong head wind, as we are in a hurry 
to get to Assiout, where I shall probably take the 
railway to Cairo, as I ought to be there for the 
dinner to Stanley on the 20th. I am the guest of 
a San Francisco friend, Mr. Jeremiah Lynch, on 
this good dahabiyeh Vittoria. . . . 

" Since I have been in Egypt I have had no time 
to write anything but official reports; but even 
those I have tried to make entertaining, and all 
have been complimented. I have been up here 
working on a big one on ' Irrigation.' And yet I 
am boiling over with subjects and information, and 
desire to write, but I can't find the time. I believe 

194 



A MEMOIR 

that I could get off three long articles in the next 
week if I only had a good shorthand writer always 
at hand. I brought up a lot of books and material 
with me, chiefly so as not to run too much in one 
groove. But the only poetry I have read was Pa- 
racelsus on the day of Browning's funeral. I had 
read it already twice since getting interested again 
in Paracelsus himself when I was at Einsiedeln and 
Basel. As was natural, my reading has been chiefly 
on Egyptian subjects — books of all kinds and de- 
scriptions. So far as I have yet got, about the 
best book of travel on the Nile is Miss A. B. Ed- 
wards's ' A Thousand Miles up the Nile,' though 
she is too wordy and gushing. Her article on Bu- 
bastis in the last Century is very good. As she is 
now lecturing in America, you may see her. 

" I have also been trying to read Ebers's novels, 
but I find them rather tough. I am only three- 
quarters deep in the ' Egyptian Princess,' though 
' Uarda ' looks better. Still the ' E. P.' was his 
first attempt. The most romantic things I have 
read are the Biblical accounts of the Egyptian Jews. 
If you can read the story of Joseph without preju- 
dice, you will find it great fun. He was such a 
fearful Jew, especially when he made Pharaoh pro- 
prietor of all the land. His successors have main- 
tained this monopoly ever since. And the gen- 
eral wiliness of everybody before and during the 
plagues, which really occur every year! . . . 
Truth compels me to state, that being obliged to 
use glasses to read, I bought a big-print Bible of 

195 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

the Missionaries especially for the trip. My great 
regret is, that it does not contain the Apocrypha. 
I have picked up a few stray bits of information; 
as finding that Jeremiah wrote his ' Lamenta- 
tions ' in the immediate vicinity of Cairo, in a vil- 
lage now called Matarieh, the ancient Heliopolis. 
When I was there I did not know this, though I 
did know that Moses, Pythagoras, Plato, and 
Euclid had studied there, and Herodotus had 
stayed there. By the way, I hope you like my 
seal, which is an old cornelian scarab — say 5,000 
years old — bearing the name or cartouche of King 
Usurbasen I. I don't go in for such things, but 
this was given to me, and I rather like it, now that 
I know that this king built the obelisk at Hieropo- 
lis, which must have been seen and admired by all 
the gentlemen just named, not to speak of Joseph. 
Close by the obelisk is a big sycamore-tree, under 
which the Holy Family rested during the flight. 
It is surrounded with a fence, and a knife is pro- 
vided for visitors to carve their names thereon, 
provided they do not touch the tree. . . . 
"Much, love to you all. 

Yours ever affectionately, 

Eugene." 

He had entered upon his life at Cairo with all 
his usual enthusiasm, and without taking the Egyp- 
tian climate into account any more than he had 

ever taken anything into account when he had an 

196 



A MEMOIR 

interesting occupation on hand or a plan to carry 
out. A bad climate is a great searcher-out of weak 
points; and certain tendencies which might have 
remained in abeyance, or might even have been 
corrected in Washington or Alassio, were rapidly 
developed in Egypt. By midwinter the climate 
and the feverish rush of work were beginning to 
tell on him. Soon after his return from his trip 
up the Nile, he had a great anxiety in the danger- 
ous illness of his nephew, who had no sooner re- 
covered than he himself was attacked with influenza. 

" About a week after I got back Louis was taken 
down with influenza, which turned into bronchitis, 
and then with pneumonia with a touch of pleurisy. 
He had to be taken to the hospital of the German 
diaconesses, where he was for two weeks, excel- 
lently attended to and nursed, though he was twice 
close to death. The doctor insists on sending him 
up the Nile, probably to-morrow, so that I shall 
be alone again with all my tourists. Well, Louis 
was not yet out when I was taken down with a 
very sharp — though short — attack, raging fever, 
bronchitis, etc., etc., in bed six days before allowed 
to sit up. Can now crawl about, but have tempo- 
rarily lost my voice. It leaves us all so weak. One 
of the cavasses was ill too, and we had to shut the 
Consulate for three days. Then people besieged 
me in my bed. I had to interfere when an Austrian 

197 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

officer threatened to kill a very pretty American 
girl if she would not marry him, with no end of 
telegrams, letters, and interviews. I think, how- 
ever, that the excitement did me good. I had also 
to institute a search for the missing head of the 
American School at Athens. I have drunk more 
milk than I have since I was a baby. 

" Now for your letter. I have lost all thought 
about my confirmation. I am too busy. I suppose 

that will keep me on the tenterhooks until 

the end of the session in July or August, and that 
then I shall be reappointed. I don't care, except 
for the uncertainty, and on Gertrude's account. 
Just at present I feel desperately like writing — 
novels, plays, essays, all sorts of things — and no 
time. . . . Constance Woolson has been here, 
and is coming back again. She has quite set me 
up. She cares not about plot, but only for the 
way things are done, and she puts my little stories 
way, way up, next to the French, for facture. Now 
she wants me to write a play, and has left me a lot 
of French ones to read and profit by. I have two 
in my head. One an English melodrama, the other 
a society comedy, scene in Cairo. Dear me ! if I 
could only do all that is expected of me. 

" It is impossible to give you an idea of the num- 
ber of Americans here. I have had fifty in one day 
in the office. Until I was convalescent I had not 
been able to open a book since I left the Nile. The 
season is at its height. They will go soon." 

198 



A MEMOIR 

He was never really well again, although he went 
on with his usual occupations and tried to write 
in his usual vein. 

" This is Shams el-Nessin, ' the smelling of the 
Zephyrs,' and is the only festival which Mussul- 
mans and Christians both hold to. It always comes 
on the Coptic (or Greek) Easter Monday, and the 
proper thing is to eat some onions and badfish in 
a garden: much like that festival in Athens to 
which we were invited for strawberries at 8 a.m. 
As the garden looked pretty, I thought it a good 
way of inaugurating an unfurnished house by giv- 
ing a small tea-party under this pretext. 

" Tuesday, April 15th.— Our little party went off 
very well, but I got no chance to finish my letter. 
There were about twenty here altogether. . . . 
Four rooms and the veranda were open, though 
only two were furnished, i.e., properly with curtains 
and all. The rest had only rugs, tables, and chairs. 
The garden looked pretty, as the roses are just 
coming out, and the turf was bright green with 
the shadows of the palms on it. I had eight big 
earthenware bowls filled with roses, which are very 
fine here now. There are not many varieties, but 
the La France and Marechal Niel are as good as 
anything on the Riviera— also a dark red rose. 
People seemed to enjoy themselves. ... 

"... One of the great races here is a Noah's 
Ark race, where people drive or guide animals. 
General Dormer won one once with a turkey, and 

199 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

someone else with a pelican. The ostrich and the 
monkey were recalcitrant and lost. 



To Maurice Howard. 

" Cairo, June 9, 1890. 

" My Dear Maury : How many letters I have 
begun to you I don't know. The one I just tore 
up was dated May 13th. 

" Would that you were here, for in spite of the 
heat I could get much out of you, and you would 
be much interested in all sorts of things. The gar- 
dens, for example. As a rule, everything blooms 
twice a year, and just now we have no end of 
Brazilian, Madagascar, Soudan, and Indian queer 
trees and plants. I never saw a place where bright 
red was so prevailing a colour. I have just driven 
by a little oval, which I remember in early winter 
as thickly planted with scarlet geraniums and Hibis- 
cus rosasinensis, with an inside circle of Poinsettias, 
which grow here from six to ten feet high. Now 
the poinsettias are green, but there is an outside 
row of Poinciana regia, a graceful clean mimosa- 
leaved tree, each now a mass of scarlet flowers with 
yellow stamens, each flower about three inches 
across. You can scarcely see the foliage, and they 
look like bonfires. Then the Erythrinas have been 
gorgeous, especially the indica. There was one 
very beautiful tree just going off — Jacaranda Mi- 
mosifolia, leaves as suggested, but lovely blue 
flowers, in big clusters, like a Tecoma. The trees 

200 



A MEMOIR 

vary from ten to thirty feet. There is a very beau- 
tiful Tccoma stans now in bloom, bright yellow 
flowers, a shrub from ten to twenty feet high, well 
worth cultivating on the Riviera, as is also Bigno- 
nia venusta, the most beautiful I know, climbing, 
flowers of a perfect orange, growing in clusters, in 
shape and size like a trumpet honeysuckle. The 
Frangipannis are in full bloom again, as also the 
Dnvanta Plumicri, though I am not very fond of 
this last. The general shade-tree here, which grows 
very quickly, is the lebbek — Albizsia Lcbbek — a 
sort of acacia with locust leaves and a whitish-green 
tassel of flowers. It is not quite evergreen, for the 
leaves fall off about the middle of April, but by 
the middle of May they are all on again and the 
flowers out. Then the sycamore and no end of 
Hens, including banyan; bananas, palms of all kinds 
(I have a big Pritchardii in bloom in the garden 
which is very fragrant), candle Euphorbias, Phy- 
tolacca dioria, rosewood (palissandre), with its pen- 
dulous branches of fragrant yellow flowers, and 
logwood, much like it, casuarinas, acacias, eucalyp- 
tus, and deciduous trees like poplars, planes, etc. 
I wish you could smell a double Jasminum Sambac, 
or even a single one. Mrs. Gibb and I once tried 
to make them grow. The double is a greenish- 
white flower like a round double ranunculus, with 
a strong jasmin odor, just saved by a touch of 
lemon. It is heavenly. There are beautiful mag- 
nolias out now. As to roses, I have seen few 
climbing ones, except Marechal Niel, but those and 

20 1 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

La France are as good as you have anywhere on 
the Riviera. I have two or three hundred bushes 
of La France and little else. If I stay I shall have 
Stamm send for some fine varieties. Hardly a day 
passes but I see something new. 

" Just now both melons and watermelons are ex- 
quisite, apricots and plums fair, cherries bad. But 
the fresh dates in October! Nothing is more 
delightful. 

" You would be charmed too with the colours 
both of faces and dresses. Such figures, such 
poses, such dignity and grace! And then the 
camels, the donkeys, the black soldiers in white 
uniform, the jugglers, the marriage and circum- 
cision processions. I can sit at a cafe or on the 
hotel veranda for hours at a time, simply watch- 
ing the people. As to the bazaars I will not speak, 
for I have kept pretty clear of them, having no 
money to buy, and not wanting to be tempted. 
There is a £5,000 rug which I'd like, but am not 
going to buy — only about six metres square. 

" Love to John and much to yourself. Yours 
ever sincerely, Eugene Schuyler." 

In spite of himself his letters began to show his 
failing health. To his wife's desire to join him in 
Egypt was opposed the decree of his physician, 
ordering him away. He was prevailed upon to write 
for a leave of absence, and awaited its arrival, hop- 
ing, as he said, that after all he would not need it. 

202 



A MEMOIR 

" Cairo, June 12, 1890. 
" My Dear Eva : Just as I was about to write 
to you there came in your letter of May 15-20. I 
have not been in the mood for writing either letters 
or articles, and yet I have greatly wanted to do 
the latter. But I have been far from well, and even 
now am in the doctor's hands. My liver seems to 
be all wrong, which in this climate is bad. The 
doctor is coming to-morrow to take another gen- 
eral look at me and tell me what to do. However, 
my mind is more active than it has been in a long 
time, and to-day I have even written a page of a 
note for the Nation. Otherwise I have done noth- 
ing but official things, and yesterday got off a re- 
port on irrigation of one hundred and twenty-eight 
pages, which cost me a lot of work, as I knew very 
little about the subject, and now I know a good 
deal. My next official subjects are Egyptian Fi- 
nance, Olive Culture, Education, and the Suez 
Canal. Every month now we have to write a Crop 
report, and I have varied mine with all sorts of 
agricultural lore. . . . 

" I am glad that you have become a gardener. 
My work in that line consists at present in sitting on 
the veranda. However, I have raised some sweet- 
peas, much to the wonder of the florist, though I 
admit that they are not good, and I have some 
morning-glories and balloon vines running up the 
veranda lattice. One of the palms is in bloom and 
is very fragrant evening and morning. We are 
very comfortable in the house, though there is very 

203 



EUGENE SCHUYLER 

little furniture; but that is all the better in sum- 
mer. Since I have been ill the servants make me 
up messes. I can make milk-toast myself, and 
Farak makes excellent oatmeal-porridge. We al- 
ways have our early breakfast here. 

" I had a little trip through the Suez Canal with 
the U. S. S. Alliance, and enjoyed it greatly, then 
stopped a few days at Suez and Ismailia for a 



change. . . . 






" Much love to 


you 


all. 
Affectionately, 

Eugene." 



At length, yielding to the urgency of his physi- 
cian, he telegraphed for a leave of absence. Im- 
mediately on its arrival he left Cairo, expecting to 
join his wife at Alassio and go with her to Carlsbad. 
Stopping to rest at Venice, he was prostrated by a 
malarial fever. The physician in attendance did 
not consider him in immediate danger; but in any 
attack of illness a weak heart had to be taken into 
account. On the evening of July 16th, suddenly, 
without an instant's warning, he died. 

Two days later he was buried in the Protestant 
cemetery on the island of San Michele, in accord- 
ance with his own request that wherever he died, 
there he should be buried. 



204 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
TWENTY YEARS AGO 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
TWENTY YEARS AGO 1 

I 

Twenty years ago there still existed in Moscow 
the salon of the Prince and Princess Odoiefsky, 
one of the literary centres of Russia. Other houses 
there were where literary men assembled in groups 
and coteries. At Katkof's for instance, on Sunday 
evenings, one was sure to find the shrewd and 
caustic Leontief, Professor Liubimof and his fel- 
low-workers on the Moscow Gazette and the Rus- 
sian Messenger, some of the professors in the re- 
cently established Lyceum, and occasionally a 
passing stranger, from either North or South, 
who sympathized with the Moscow as distin- 
guished from the Petersburg school of literature 
and politics. Katkof, decided as he was in his 
political views, was a charming talker on literary 
subjects, about which he allowed more difference 
of opinion. He was such a hard worker, especially 

1 Published in 1889. 
207 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

at night, that Sunday afternoons and evenings 
were the only times when he was visible, as his 
Gazette was not issued on Monday. His wife, a 
princess of some small family in the Caucasus, was 
an agreeable little woman; and the house swarmed 
with children, with whom — I may speak of myself 
— I was the best of friends; and I shall never for- 
get my occasional dinners and evenings with the 
family. At the house of Aksakof, the journalistic 
rival of Katkof, and the great Slavophile, one 
used to meet Miliutin, Prince Tcherkasky, and 
others of his particular clique, as well as his father- 
in-law, the poet Tiutchef, when he happened to be 
in Moscow; but the feeble health of Madame 
Aksakof prevented anything like regular recep- 
tions. At Bartenief's — the editor of the Russian 
Archives — a man remarkably well informed on all 
historical and bibliographical subjects, and in the 
rooms of some of the professors of the University, 
one occasionally saw scholars and interesting men. 
But the salon of Prince Odoiefsky was the great 
meeting-place. 

Prince Vladimir Feodorovitch Odoiefsky was 
then the sole surviving member of the eldest 
branch of the descendants of Rurik, and was 
therefore not only the first noble in Russia, but, 

genealogically speaking, of higher origin than the 

208 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

Emperor. He had begun his public life as a 
Chamberlain at Court and in the Ministry of Public 
Instruction, had become Director of the Imperial 
Public Library at St. Petersburg, and Grand 
Master at the court of the learned and witty Grand 
Duchess Helen; and had finally retired to Moscow 
as President of one of the sections of the Senate 
— which is the Russian Court of Appeals. In a 
literary way he was one of the few survivors of 
the Pushkin epoch, and in his youth had written 
many short tales of a somewhat reflective and 
ideal cast; some of them, such as " Beethoven's 
Last Quartet " and " A Fugue of Bach," of great 
merit. During later years his productions had 
been fewer, but of much value. He was a many- 
sided man — a courtier, a lawyer, a musician, a 
writer, and a scientist. There was hardly a branch 
of knowledge in which his opinion was not val- 
uable, and his opinion was founded not only on a 
wonderful acquaintance with books but on reflec- 
tion as well. In his large library, filled with rare 
works, there was hardly a volume that was not 
annotated with his careful pencillings. For a 
scientific knowledge of music and of musical 
acoustics he had probably few, if any, superiors in 
the world, and of late years had given all his spare 
time to musical experiment, study, and composi- 
Vol. I.— 14 209 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

tion. Though the first aristocrat of Russia, he 
was perhaps the greatest democrat. In his famous 
and curious cabinet, where all the Russian authors 
from Pushkin to Count Tolstoy had so often 
talked, where Glinka and Berlioz and every musi- 
cian, and, in fact, every distinguished man who 
had ever been in Russia had sat; where Emperors 
and Grand Dukes even came, everybody was per- 
fectly equal and perfectly at home. The lowest 
clerk was treated in exactly the same way as the 
Cabinet Minister or the Ambassador. There was 
the same kind reception for all, the same willing- 
ness to oblige and serve. The Princess Olga was 
as charming as her husband, though in a different 
way. Her brother, Count Lanskoy, as Minister 
of the Interior, had been the chief man in the 
movement for the emancipation of the Russian 
serfs. Her family still keeps up its liberal ideas, 
and one of her nephews is Mr. Galkin-Vrassky, 
well known in connection with prison reform in 
Russia; and whom Mr. Kennan has frequently 
occasion to mention with praise. 

To this hospitable house I was introduced, on 
my first arrival at Moscow, in the autumn of 1867, 
by Turguenief the novelist, whose personal ac- 
quaintance I had just made at Baden-Baden. I 

was young in years and still younger in character 

210 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

and temperament; and from the first I was treated 
not so much like a favored guest as like the 
spoiled child of the house. I was made to dine 
there regularly at least once in the week, and was 
also expected to come to the usual Friday even- 
ings; and the Prince, who had a taste for cooking 
and had even published a cookery book, used to 
send for me by messenger whenever he was to try 
a new dish, or was expecting an interesting guest. 
He lived in an old house on the Smolensky Boule- 
vard, which had apparently escaped the fire of 
1812, with wings extending in a semicircle on 
either side to the street in the old Moscow style; 
with a great court-yard in front, a large garden be- 
hind, where he used to experiment on rare vege- 
tables and plants — for he was as fond of botany as 
of cookery or of music. Beneath him, on the 
ground floor, dwelt the well-known bibliophile 
Sobolefsky — whose library since his death has 
been pretty well distributed through Europe and 
America — who was then an habitue of the house. 
On the regular Friday evenings the ladies usually 
assembled in one of the two drawing-rooms about 
the Princess, who made the tea, unless some young 
lady relieved her of that duty; while the men 
sooner or later dropped off into the cabinet of the 

Prince for cigars, cigarettes, and talk. When 

211 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

some great singer or musician was present, like 
Madame Alexandrova, the prima donna of the 
Russian opera, who used to come when she was 
free, we adjourned to the big hall lined with books 
between the salon and the cabinet, where there 
were two pianos, an organ, and a collection of 
musical instruments. There I met Berlioz and 
other foreign musicians; and once heard the Rus- 
sian composer Serof give us the bonnes bonches of 
one of his new operas. The Prince had invented 
a little piano-forte with separate keys for the flats 
and sharps properly tuned like a violin. This 
was sometimes tried, with the result of spoiling 
our ears during the rest of the evening for the con- 
ventional approximate sounds of an ordinary piano. 
To tell of all who used to come there would simply 
be to give a catalogue of Russian society of the 
best sort — for all that was good at St. Peters- 
burg occasionally stopped at Moscow, and in that 
case always went to see the Princess — or to re- 
count all the eminent names in Russian art and 
literature. 

It was here that one evening I met Count Leo 
Tolstoy, who had of old relations with the Prince, 
and who was intimate besides with many Moscow 
ladies, great friends of the Princess, who were in 

fact at that time furnishing material for his novel 

212 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

of " War and Peace " which he was then slowly 
writing. I was greatly attracted by him, and at 
the end of the evening told the Princess that he had 
asked me to come to see him. She laughingly 
replied: " It is not worth your while; for you will 
make nothing out of him, as he is very shy and 
very wild " {tres- farouche ct trcs-sauvage). 

Somehow I was not deterred by the forbidding 
remark of the Princess, and the next day went off 
to see Count Tolstoy, whom I found surrounded 
by books and papers in a small apartment lent to 
him by a friend. Far from being a bear he seemed 
to me to be extremely amiable. Our acquaintance 
continued until a suddenly proposed journey took 
me southeastward to Orenburg on the confines of 
Asia, when he not only gave me letters to various 
relatives and friends whom I would be likely to 
meet, but gave me, in addition, a pressing invita- 
tion to come to his country-place in the autumn 
and stay as long as I liked and could put up with 
his ways. 

When the autumn came the invitation was re- 
peated. 



213 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

II 

Therefore, on Saturday, October 3d, 1868, I 
left Moscow at five o'clock in the afternoon by the 
only available train on the Southern Railway, then 
lately opened, and after passing Tula — the Bir- 
mingham and Sheffield of Russia — about one hun- 
dred and twenty miles south of Moscow, arrived 
at the Yasenki Station about two o'clock at night. 
During the journey I was much amused by mak- 
ing the acquaintance of Mr. N. Makarof, the com- 
piler of the best Russian-French dictionary, who, 
in the Russian simple way, told me all his affairs 
and the whole story of his life. On a journey Rus- 
sians become very garrulous, and, while they are 
as inquisitive as the Scotch, they are frank and 
confiding about their own affairs — even those of 
an intimate nature — to a degree that it is difficult 
for us to imagine. The lovely day in Moscow had 
ended in a disagreeable storm of rain. The Count's 
carriage was waiting at Yasenki Station, but it 
rained so hard and it was so dark that it took us 
fully an hour and a half to drive the four miles to 
the house at Yasnaya Polyana. At last we came 
to a tall stone column and turned up an avenue 
of trees. A servant was waiting for me at the 

house, who conducted me through what seemed a 

214 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

labyrinth of passages to my room, where I found 
a table spread, and was very glad to eat somewhat 
and warm myself with tea. I was told that very 
late hours were kept, and that I should not be ex- 
pected to appear before eleven o'clock, which 
was the usual time for morning coffee. The room 
which had been given to me was on the further 
corner of the ground floor. I had to pass the 
Count's business-room and study to get to it; but, 
as I found the next day, I was near a staircase, 
and could go up to the drawing-rooms and dining- 
room with ease. In one corner was a glass cup- 
board filled with holy pictures — images, or Ikons 
as they call them — some in the old and primitive 
style, evidently painted before the beginning of 
Dissent, and some richly covered with jewels; be- 
sides crosses, rosaries, and relics, so that my curi- 
osity was greatly aroused. I soon ascertained that 
this was the room of Madame Yushkof, the 
Count's aunt, who had taken care of him since 
his early youth and had since continued to live 
with him. 

At eleven o'clock the next morning I made my 
appearance in the drawing-room and became ac- 
quainted with the various members of the family: 
the Countess Sofea Andreievna, a charming, tall, 
slender, and handsome woman of about twenty- 

215 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

four, the daughter of a German physician at Mos- 
cow, named Bors, who was at that time the chief 
military medical officer at Tula; three children — 
Serge or Seryozhka, a nice handsome boy of five 
years old; a little girl with bright eyes like her 
mother, called Tania, short for Tatiana; and a 
little boy named Ilya or Ilyushka (Elijah); and an 
English governess. The Count wore a gray 
plaited blouse, confined by a belt, neither exactly 
a shooting-jacket, nor yet a peasant shirt, which 
turned out to be his habitual costume in the coun- 
try. The usual language of the family was Eng- 
lish, at all events when the children were present. 
The children had their coffee and bread and butter 
with us, after which the Count and I smoked, 
talked, and played an hour or so duets on the 
piano, as it was still too rainy to go out. Suddenly 
the weather cleared as if by magic, and we were 
able to ride out and look at the estate. 

Yasnaya Polyana, which means, literally, an 
open field or clearing, contains about 3,000 acres, 
the greater part of which had been always under 
cultivation; but as the land was not rich and 
seemed poor in comparison with the fertile black 
soil beginning four miles to the south, and as the 
recent opening of the railway had reduced the 

price of grain by bringing it from far better lands, 

216 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

and wages in this region were very high in con- 
sequence of the peasants being employed as 
carters and drivers, Count Tolstoy had begun to 
give up sowing wheat and rye, and was then plant- 
ing the whole estate with birch-trees. These he 
estimated would in the course of twenty years 
yield a large and steady revenue if carefully cut for 
firewood on the French plan, and thus he would 
leave the estate to his children far more productive 
than he had himself inherited it. The house 
stood on a little hill at the end of a fine avenue of 
birch and lime trees : in front were the remains of 
a magnificent garden, with many ponds and slopes 
of grass and fine alleys of trees. Behind the courts 
and stables the woods, fields, and plantations be- 
gan. The green-house had been burnt down a 
year or two before, and since then the flower- 
garden had been given up. The old manor- 
house, which had been a very fine building, had 
become so ruinous that it had been pulled down 
shortly before, and the family were then living in 
one of the detached wings. All large Russian 
houses, both in city and country, were formerly 
built with two or three detached wings, which 
were always found useful and convenient in the 
times when a whole family, with half a dozen 

servants, would come for a three months' visit. 

217 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

We came back to a five o'clock dinner, after 
which there was music and general conversation, 
until between nine and ten, when we had a light 
supper, without the children, and then the Count 
took me to his study, where we talked until one or 
two. 

The other days were passed much in the same 
way. It is impossible to give the diary of a week 
so spent, the charm of which lay in the company, 
the lovely October weather which invited to ex- 
cursions of all kinds, and in the talk. 

Although Tolstoy was then engaged on the last 
part of " War and Peace," there could have been 
little writing done at this time. The author's 
great passion was then, as it always had been, 
sport. Every morning I found that he had been 
up by daylight, or even before, no matter at what 
time he had gone to bed on the previous night, 
and had gone off into the woods with his gun 
and dogs in pursuit of game. This was just the 
season for it; but the heavy rain had for the mo- 
ment driven off the woodcock, of which there 
were generally quantities within a short distance 
of the house in what had been formerly a park. 
It is to this love of sport that we owe not only the 
whole story of " The Cossacks," as well as several 

other of his early tales, but also some of the best 

218 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

pages in " War and Peace " and in " Anna 
Karenin " — the shooting parties and the military- 
races, all of them evidently accounts of what Tol- 
stoy had seen and taken part in. After going out 
once or twice with him I could see the intense 
realism of these parts, and for me they now have 
a special attraction as recalling this visit to Yas- 
naya Polyana. Having inherited an antipathy to 
firearms, and never having lived in a region where 
game was plentiful, or where its pursuit was 
socially obligatory, as in England, I had never 
been in the woods with a gun in my hand, and I 
was persuaded to do so for the first and last time 
in my life — not that it displeased me, quite the con- 
trary, but somehow the occasion has never come 
again. 

I can never forget my first day out — a day as 
warm and beautiful as that on which I am now 
writing on the Riviera. We drove about a dozen 
miles to an open wood where we expected to 
shoot hares. There we were joined by Mr. Bibi- 
kof, our nearest neighbor, whom we saw nearly 
every day. Perhaps it was because Tolstoy had 
so strong an individuality that I have but little 
remembrance of Bibikof, except as a pleasant, 
hospitable country gentleman, with a good house 

and an agreeable family. I but dimly recollect 

219 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

even how he looked. Each party had brought a 
dog or two, whose duty was to start the hares and 
drive them along the country-road through the 
woods, so as to pass us, who sat or stood at con- 
siderable intervals in convenient little nooks ap- 
parently arranged for the purpose; for there was 
generally a stump or log so placed as to make a 
seat and a look-out. My forest excursions had up 
to that time been solely botanical, and, except for 
a curious bird or insect, I had looked only at trees, 
shrubs, and the ground in search of some rare 
plant, moss, or fungus. It was new to me to sit 
still and use my ears as well as my eyes; to appre- 
ciate the different noises of the wood; to know 
whether that was a twig or a leaf which fell — for 
the leaves were just falling, none of them, even 
maples and oaks, coloured so highly as with us; to 
distinguish between the noises made by the birds; 
to speculate as to the origin of unknown sounds, 
and to have one's attention always strained for the 
patter-patter of the hare. I passed thus what I 
look back to now as one of the pleasantest half- 
hours of my life; strained, attent, and exercising 
what seemed to me to be a new sense; quite alone, 
yet having friends within call, though I knew not 
where they were, having been first posted. At 

last I heard the dogs coming down the road and 

220 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

the unmistakable sound of the hare over the dry 
leaves. She came out into the little clearing, 
stopped still, and looked at me with curiosity. I 
looked at her with equal wonder, and was so 
nervous and excited that I quite forgot that I had 
a gun and had been put there to kill her. When 
we had each gazed our fill she leisurely walked 
off. There was another half-hour of waiting, dur- 
ing which I heard occasional shots in various di- 
rections. Again a hare appeared and sat in front 
of me — it was probably the same one come back 
to see what I was doing then. This time I delib- 
erately aimed and fired, wounding her in a hind 
leg. I pitied her as she hopped off into the under- 
brush, and entirely forgot that I had a second 
barrel of my gun. When we met afterwards and 
compared results, it was found that on the whole 
I had not done so badly; for there was only one 
hare killed by the whole party — by one of the Bibi- 
kofs. Tolstoy had seen a hare, but she had 
escaped while he was cocking his gun. The rela- 
tion of my adventures sent the sportsmen into 
roars of laughter; but Tolstoy said something in 
the evening which showed that he appreciated 
their poetic side. 

On another day we went hare-hunting. Tol- 
stoy and two of the Bibikofs were mounted, and 

221 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

armed with very long, flexible, but heavy whips, 
followed by the dogs in leash. The rest of us — 
that is, the ladies and children of the Bibikof fam- 
ily, the Countess, Serge, and myself — went in a 
lineika, a long, low Russian vehicle for country 
use, shaped very much like a prolonged Irish 
jaunting-car, which will hold eight or ten people 
sitting back to back. When we had come to a 
sort of moor we were posted on a low hill from 
which we had a wide view in all directions, and 
where the servants were to prepare the picnic 
lunch. The riders, with their respective dogs, 
which were loosed, started off in different direc- 
tions. The dogs were trained to drive the hares 
near the hunters, who, as soon as they came within 
distance, deftly killed them with one blow of the 
whip, either strangling them or breaking their 
backs. It was mad, break-neck riding over the 
hills, gullies, and blind holes, and the sport was 
almost as exciting to the onlookers as to the actual 
participants. 

This particular sort of sport is perhaps peculiar 
to the region; the rest of it might have been en- 
joyed at almost any country-house in such weather. 
What had more savour to me were the after-supper 
talks, often prolonged till late in the night. 



222 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

III 

One evening during my stay Tolstoy told me 
much about his early life; but in what I shall say 
now I do not repeat all that he said or as he said 
it, and I fill in some details from other sources. 

He was born on sIS.?* 1828, at Yasnaya 
Polyana, the youngest of four sons. Of his 
brothers, Nicholas lived until 1862; he is said to 
have had a charming character, was a great 
sporting friend of Turguenief, whose estate was 
near by, and served for some years in the army 
of the Caucasus. He told sporting stories very 
well, and even wrote out some of them, which 
were published; but, as Turguenief said, "his 
hands were as callous as those of a workman, and 
he experienced great physical difficulties in writ- 
ing." In some ways he might well have stood 
for the original of Nicholas Levin in " Anna 
Karenin " even to many of the details. His sister 
Marie married another Tolstoy. She was, accord- 
ing to Turguenief, " a woman in the highest 
degree agreeable and sympathetic; " who again 
writes (in 1856): "Her illness saddens me. If 
there is a woman on earth who deserves to be 
happy, it is she. But it is just on such natures 
that the heavy hand of fate is always laid." Tol- 

22^ 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

stoy's mother died in 1830, when he was not yet 
two years old, on which the children were taken 
care of by their aunt, the Countess Osten Sacken, 
their father's sister. But about the time of the 
removal of the family to Moscow, in 1837, the 
father died. Leo, his brother Dimitri, and his 
sister Marie, were sent back to the country, while 
Nicholas remained in Moscow with his aunt Osten 
Sacken and attended the University. Three years 
later the Countess Osten Sacken died, and the 
younger children passed into the care of her sister, 
another aunt, Madame Yushkof, living at Kazan. 
She devoted herself to Count Leo and his family 
for the rest of her long life, and Tolstoy gives an 
amusing example of her wishes for his future 
prosperity in the first chapter of his " Confessions." 
Dimitri now went to the University of Kazan, dis- 
tinguishing himself at one time by a religious zeal 
which made him the laughing-stock of the rest of 
the family. 1 

1 The account of his early life, given by Count Tolstoy in his " Con- 
fessions," is interesting; but we must remember that it was written 
under the influence of a very strong religious emotion. 

" I was baptized and brought up in the Orthodox Christian Faith. 
It was taught to me in my early childhood, and through my whole 
boyhood and youth. But when, at the age of eighteen, I had passed 
my second year at the University, I no longer believed anything that 
I had been taught. Judging from certain recollections I could never 
have believed seriously, and had only a sort of confidence in what 
older people had professed in my presence. Even this confidence was 
very shaky. I remember when I was about eleven years old that a 
boy, long since dead, Volodinka M , a pupil of the High School, 

224 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

Leo himself began to attend the University in 
1843 at the age of fifteen, and passed one year 
in the course of Eastern Languages, and two 
years in that of Law. Suddenly, seized with a 
desire of doing good to his peasants, he left the 
University and settled on his estate at Yasnaya 
Polyana. His experiences there, as well as his 
ideas in going there, are hinted at in his sketch 
called " The Morning of a Proprietor " (Utro 

came to see us one Sunday and told us, as the last news, a discovery 
that had been made at school. This was that there was no God, and 
that all that had been taught us on that subject was pure imagination. 
This was in 1838. I remember how interested my elder brothers got 
over this news; how they called me into the consultation, and how 
we all became very animated and received the information as some- 
thing very interesting and perfectly possible. 

" I remember, too, that when my eldest brother Dimitri, while he 
was at the University, suddenly gave himself up to religion with the 
peculiar passion of his nature and began to attend all the services, 
to fast, and to lead a purely moral life, we all, even our elders, con- 
stantly held him up to ridicule, and for some reason or other called 
him Noah. Mussin-Pushkin, who was then Curator of the University 
of Kazan, when he used to invite us to a dance and my brother re- 
fused, laughingly tried to persuade him by saying that David had 
danced before the ark. I sympathized then with these jests of my 
elders and concluded from them that it was necessary to learn the 
catechism and go to church, but that all that should not be taken 
too seriously. I remember also that I read Voltaire when I was very 
young, and his ridicule not only did not disturb me, but even amused 
me. Unbelief came on me just as it had come, and still comes, on 
persons of all classes of society. 

" The religious belief which had been inculcated into me in my 
childhood disappeared in me as in several others, with this difference 
only, that as I had begun to read philosophical works at the age of 
fifteen, my refusal to believe was made with the consciousness of what 
I was doing. At sixteen I had stopped saying my prayers, and act- 
ing on my own convictions refused to go to church or to fast. I did 
not believe in what had been taught me in childhood, but I believed 
in something or other. 

" Some time I will tell the history of my life, which is both touch- 
ing and instructive in these ten years of my youth. I think that very 
many will have the same experience. I desired with all my soul to 

Vol. I.— 15 225 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

pomiestchika). In 185 1 he made to his brother, 
then serving in the Caucasus, a visit which com- 
pletely changed the current of his life. Struck 
with the scenery and the simple ways, influenced 
perhaps also by other considerations, he desired to 
remain; and, as the Caucasus was not then a 
place for civilians, he entered the military service 
as Yunker in the fourth battery of the twentieth 
brigade of artillery. A Yunker was at that time 

be good; but I was young, I had passions, and I was alone, quite 
alone, when I sought for good. Every time that I tried to express 
what were my most heartfelt wishes, that I wished to be morally 
good, I met with contempt and ridicule; but whenever I gave my- 
self up to my bad passions I was praised and encouraged. 

" Ambition, love of power, love of gain, pleasure, pride, wrath, 
vengeance- — all that was respected: when I gave myself up to these 
passions I began to be like a man and felt that people were contented 
with me. My good aunt, a most virtuous woman, with whom I lived, 
always said to me that she wished nothing for me so much as to come 
into relations with a married woman: ' rien ne forme un jeune homme 
comme une liaison avec une femme comme il faut.' She wished me 
also another good fortune, that I should become an aide-de-camp, 
especially an aide-de-camp to the Emperor. But the very highest good 
luck would be to marry a very rich girl, in consequence of which I 
should possess the greatest possible number of serfs. 

" I cannot remember these years without horror, disgust, and pain 
of heart. I used to kill people in war; I challenged them to duels in 
order to kill them; I used to lose money at cards; I ate up the labour 
of the peasants and punished them; I led an immoral life; gave my- 
self up to systematic deception. Lying, theft, pleasure of all kinds, 
drunkenness, violence, murder. . . . there was no crime that I 
did not commit. For all that my contemporaries praised me and still 
considered me a comparatively moral man. 

" Thus I lived for ten years. During this time I began to write— 
from vanity, cupidity, and pride. I was the same in my writings as 
I was in my life. In order to get fame and money, for which I wrote, 
it was necessary to conceal what was good and show forth what was 
bad. And so I did. How often did I take great pains in my writings 
to conceal, under an appearance of indifference, and even of light ridi- 
cule, those aspirations of mine to virtue which were really the aim of 
my life. That end I succeeded in attaining, and I was praised in con- 
sequence." 

226 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

something between a soldier and an officer, the 
rank by which noblemen generally entered the 
army, which obliged them to do soldier's duty, and 
yet allowed them to associate on an equality with 
the officers. He was stationed at Staro-Lidov- 
skaya on the Terek, where he remained about 
three years, till the outbreak of the war with 
Turkey. The new surroundings awakened new 
expressions of his nature, and Tolstoy began to 
write. " Childhood " (Dietstvo) was finished in 
1852, and " Boyhood " (Otrotchestvo) in 1854. 
"The Incursion" (Nabieg) and "A Landlord's 
Morning " (Utro Pomiestchika) were also written 
in 1852. It is curious to find that at the very 
beginning were the germs of the three different 
lines that he has continued and woven together in 
his latest and best works, and even the germs of 
his more recent philosophical-religious phase. 
The foundations were laid for several other short 
stories, especially " The Cossacks " — and in some 
cases the projects were committed to paper. 

When the Eastern war began, Tolstoy asked for 
active service, and was assigned to the staff of 
Prince Michael Gortchakof, the commander-in- 
chief of the Russian army on the Danube; and 
when the scene of action was transferred to the 

Crimea, he obtained the command of a mountain 

227 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

battery, and had the chance to do good service 
in the battle of the Tchernaya (August 16, 1855). 
This battle, which was so disastrous to Russia, 
was the outcome of a series of blunders, beginning 
with the demand of Baron Vrefsky, the repre- 
sentative of the Minister of War, for active oper- 
ations of some kind, and with the forgetfulness of 
the military topographers to put down on the cam- 
paign-map certain gullies and ravines that proved 
of great importance. The deliberations of the 
Council of War and the events of the battle were 
well hit off in a satirical song, which is an excel- 
lent illustration of a national trait of Russians, of 
being able to joke and laugh even in the worst 
moments, and thus to keep up their spirits. It 
was very popular in the Crimea, and was soon 
circulated in manuscript throughout Russia. The 
voice of the army ascribed the authorship to Tol- 
stoy, but it was naturally impossible to avow it. 
He was at least one of the authors, for new verses 
were occasionally added at officers' suppers, when 
Tolstoy himself sometimes accompanied it on the 
piano. 

During the campaign Tolstoy began " Youth " 
(Yihwst), which was not finished till two years 
later, wrote another sketch of the Caucasus, 

" Wood-cutting " (Rubka-lyesa), and the three 

228 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

sketches of Sevastopol. These last drew to the 
author great attention at home. The first two 
were read with sympathy at the Palace, and the 
Emperor Nicholas — who even in the midst of war 
could think of the intellectual glory of his country 
— gave orders that " the life of that young man 
must be looked after." That is the expression 
which Tolstoy used in speaking of it. As a result 
— much to his personal annoyance — he was kept 
out of harm's way; sent, I believe, to Simpheropol 
for the short remainder of the siege. 

After peace was made Tolstoy resigned from 
the army, and went to St. Petersburg, twenty-six 
years old, and with a great prestige for so young 
an author. Here he was at once received in a 
flattering way by the chief literary circle of the 
capital — Turguenief, Gontcharof, Grigorovitch, 
Druzhinin, and Ostrofsky — and on one occasion 
they had themselves photographed together. 1 

1 " Twenty-six years old I arrived at St. Petersburg after the war, 
and came into relations with authors. They received me in a flatter- 
ing way, like one of their own number. I had not succeeded in 
taking any situation before the views about life of the writers with 
whom I became intimate had already taken possession of me, and had 
completely effaced in me all my previous desires to make myself better. 
These views made up a theory which quite excused the license of 
my life. Their substance was in general, that life continues to prog- 
ress, and that in this development the preponderant part is due to 
us men of thought, and especially to those of us who are artists and 
poets. Our vocation was to instruct people. What was our instruc- 
tion there was no need of inquiring; for it was admitted in theory 
that artists and poets instructed unconsciously. I considered myself 
a remarkable artist and poet, and therefore very naturally accepted 

229 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

Tolstoy at last grew weary of life at St. Peters- 
burg and returned to Yasnaya Polyana. The life 
of the capital did not agree with his ideal of the 
objects of existence. He was young, obstinate in 
his own opinions, and was inclined to deviate from 
the accepted rules of literary art. But in spite of 
obstinacy and eccentricity, he was respected and 
loved by those who met him. As his brothers 
had died of consumption, and he looked very deli- 
cate and was credited with leading a very fast life, 
fears were entertained for his health; and Tur- 
guenief, who was comparatively a near country 
neighbour, as distances go in Russia, had a general 
mandate to look after him. Of Russian literary 
men Turguenief was perhaps his warmest friend, 
although he was the constant object of his raillery; 
and in general conversation Tolstoy was sometimes 
exasperating. Of the results of Turguenief's ef- 
forts to keep Tolstoy in order I must speak later. 

Tolstoy, while in the country, kept on writing, 
and showed only to a moderate extent his peculiar 

this theory. I, an artist and poet, wrote and taught not knowing what. 
For that I was paid money, I had excellent eating, lodging, and so- 
ciety: I was famous. Therefore what I taught must be very good. 
This belief in the importance of poetry and the development of life 
was a Faith, and I was one of its Priests. Being a Priest was very 
advantageous and very agreeable, and I lived a long time in this be- 
lief without doubting its truth. . . . We were all then convinced 
that it was necessary for us to speak and write and print as quickly 
as possible, and as much as possible, and that all that was necessary 
for the good of humanity." — " Confessions." 

230 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

ideas. The next year, 1857, he went abroad for 
the first time. He was delighted with Germany, 
stayed a long time in France, and went as far as 
Rome. In Paris he went to see a man guillotined 
and was greatly impressed. He told me the whole 
story in such a vivid way that I fully expected he 
would use it in a novel; and I could not help 
thinking of it afterwards when reading Turgue- 
nief's remarkable account of the execution of 
Troppmann. But so far it has only furnished a 
sentence or two in the " Confessions." 

His journey abroad gave rise to two or three 
short stories; but he soon ceased writing, to de- 
vote himself to educating the serfs on his estate, 
and in i860 he made another journey to the West. 
He married in 1862, and from that time on, and 
for fully ten years after I knew him, devoted 
himself to the enjoyment of his family life, and to 
the pursuit of literature, without, however, neg- 
lecting opportunities for well-doing. 

The Count said that his family was descended 
from a Dane named Dick, who, when he came to 
Russia, translated his name into the corresponding 
Tolstoy (thick). The tradition, however, which 
is received by the genealogists, traces the origin 
of the family to a German named Indris, who came 

to Tchernigof, in 1353, with his two sons and 

231 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

about 3,000 followers, all of whom immediately 
accepted the doctrine of the Eastern Church, and 
Indris was renamed Leontius. It was only in the 
fourth generation that one Andrei received the 
surname of Tolstoy, on account of his figure. All 
of the Tolstoys who are counts, are descended 
from Count Peter Andreievitch, the well-known 
diplomatist and statesman of the times of Peter 
and Catherine L, who distinguished himself dis- 
agreeably by the capture of Peter's son Alexis at 
Naples. For his services he was made count in 
1724, the fourth time that this title had been 
given. Therefore the present Minister of the In- 
terior, Count Dimitri Andreievitch, and the late 
Count Alexis Constantinovitch, the poet and 
author of " Prince Serebryanny," are both distant 
cousins of Count Leo; but it is necessary to go 
back to the son or grandson of the first count to 
find a common ancestor. Many of the family, 
both counts and untitled, have distinguished them- 
selves in war, in diplomacy, in statesmanship, in 
literature, in the arts, and at Court. Each of the 
three Emperors Alexander has had for intimate 
friend a Count Tolstoy. A cousin of the novelist's 
grandfather, Count Peter Alexandrovitch, served 
with distinction under Suvarof, gaining the grade 

of colonel and the cross of St. George at the storm 

232 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

of Praga, was Russian Commissioner with the 
army of the Archduke Karl, commander of the 
Russian army in Northern Germany in 1805, and 
ambassador in Paris in 1807 an d 1808, when his 
recall was asked by Napoleon because he fre- 
quented the society of the Faubourg St. Germain. 
In 18 12 he commanded the militia at Moscow and 
organized the national defence; in 181 3 he com- 
manded a corps in Benningsen's army in the oper- 
ations against Dresden and Hamburg; in 1823 he 
was made a member of the Council of State as 
President of the Military Section, and in 1831 
commanded the reserve army against the rebellious 
Poles. He is described by Dolgoruky, who is not 
given to compliment, as " a man of pre-eminent 
nobility of soul, of unwavering constancy, of ex- 
emplary unselfishness, who ardently loved his 
country, was faithful in friendship, honourable 
without the shadow of a change, respected by 
everyone, and who, during the whole seventy- 
five years of his life, was a chevalier sans pair et 
sans reproche." In fact he was a worthy prototype 
of the old Prince Nicholas Bolkonsky, the father 
of Prince Andrei in " War and Peace." 

Count Osterman-Tolstoy might have served as 
the original of one incident in Byron's " Don 
Juan," in having been the handsome young lieu- 

233 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

tenant who brought to Catherine II. the news of 
the fall of Ismail. He speedily advanced at Court, 
inherited the immense fortune of his great-uncles, 
Counts Ivan and Feodor Osterman, and was al- 
lowed to add this name to his own. Though in 
disfavour under the Emperors Paul and Alexander 
I., he nevertheless took an active part in the war 
of 1812, and won the battle of Kulm (so far as is 
permitted even to a Tolstoy to win a battle), by 
which the tide was first turned against Napoleon. 
Later he lived abroad, took Fallmerayer on a three 
years' journey in the East, and died at Geneva in 

1837. 

The novelist's father, Nikolas Hitch, had no 
higher rank than Lieutenant-Colonel: but his 
uncle, Feodor Andreievitch, the Senator and 
Privy Councillor, who died in 1849, at the a g e °f 
ninety-one, was a noted bibliophile, whose splen- 
did collection of Slavonic manuscripts is now in 
the Public Library at St. Petersburg; and his 
cousin, Count Feodor Petrovitch, was a sculptor 
and medallist of merit, and died in 1873 as Vice- 
President and Professor in the Academy of the 
Fine Arts. 

The mother of the novelist was the Princess 
Marie Volkonsky, daughter of a general of Cath- 
erine's time, and a direct descendant of St. 

234 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

Michael, Prince of Tchernigof, who was mar- 
tyred by the Mongols in 1246 for refusing to per- 
form an act of heathen worship, and was subse- 
quently canonised by the Russian Church. Thus 
on his mother's side, and also in other ways, 
Count Leo Tolstoy is a descendant of Rurik. 
Among his other direct ancestors we find mem- 
bers of the princely houses of Trubetzkoy Gort- 
chakof, Stchetinin and Trockurof, without men- 
tioning countless relationships and connections 
with most of the noble families of Russia. 

I have dwelt thus at length on the family of the 
Tolstoys, partly perhaps because I have a personal 
leaning to genealogy, but chiefly because Tolstoy 
is the rare exception in Russian literature of a 
novelist who really forms part of the society he 
has undertaken to describe, and because of the 
contrast of his family history with his present 
religious and social opinions. Such contrasts are 
not rare in Russia. 

IV 
As we spent the evenings and part of the 
mornings in the Count's study, which was full of 
books, the talk very naturally ran on literature. 
At intervals I helped him to rearrange his library, 
a good portion of which consisted of old French 

235 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

books which had descended to him from his father 
or grandfather; but which contained also the best 
imaginative literature of England, France, Ger- 
many, and Italy, not to speak of Russian books 
and an enviable collection of works about Napo- 
leon and his times which were in use for " War 
and Peace." Of these latter, some rare books I 
was able afterwards to obtain; others I still envy 
him. Unfortunately I have mislaid most of my 
notes with regard to our literary conversations. 
Certain things, however, made a strong impres- 
sion upon me. 

Tolstoy had a very high opinion of the English 
novel, not only as a work of art but especially for 
its naturalism — a word not then in vogue. " In 
French literature," he said, " I prize, above all, 
the novels of Alexandre Dumas and of Paul de 
Kock." At this I opened my eyes wide, being 
at that time strongly imbued with the ideas of the 
school then prevalent. " No," he said, " don't 
tell me any of that nonsense that Paul de Kock is 
immoral. He is, sometimes, according to English 
notions, improper. He is more or less what the 
French call teste and Gaulois; but he is never im- 
moral. Whatever he may say in his books, and 
in despite of his little loose jokes, his stories are 

perfectly moral in tendency. He is the French 

236 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

Dickens. His characters are all drawn from life, 
and very perfectly too. When I was in Paris I 
used to spend half my days in the omnibuses, 
simply for the amusement of looking at the people; 
and I can assure you that nearly every passenger 
had come out of one of Paul de Kock's novels. 
And as to Dumas, every novel-writer ought to 
know him by heart. His plots are marvellous, to 
say nothing of his workmanship: I can read him 
again and again; but his plots and intrigues form 
his strong point." For Balzac he did not care so 
much. Among other writers I can now only re- 
call Schopenhauer, for whom at that time he had 
a great admiration, and whose German style he 
particularly praised. 

We talked of contemporary Russian authors, 
and the conversation naturally fell upon his own 
books, of which he spoke with great frankness. 
" War and Peace," which was then in publication, 
afforded the subject for a long talk; but of this I 
can only give the result, and not in so many words 
what he said. 

" War and Peace " was originally published in 
six parts, beginning in 1865, and not as usual in 
Katkof's Russian Messenger. Four numbers had 
then been issued, had had a very great sale, and 
had been read by everybody. These carried the 

237 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

story down to the battle of Borodino. The final 
portions did not appear for a year or so afterward. 
There had been, of course, some hostile criticism, 
to which Tolstoy replied in Bartenief's historical 
journal, Russian Archives, at about this time, and 
much in the same way that he talked about the 
book to me. 

It may be remarked here that before writing 
" War and Peace," Tolstoy began a novel to be 
called " The Decembrists " (Dekabristy), on the 
theme of the attempted revolution of December 
if, 1825 (on the accession of the Emperor Nich- 
olas), in which so many well-born Russians, in- 
cluding several of his own relatives and family 
connections, had taken part. At this time, before 
the rise of destructive Nihilism, owing in part to 
the return of several of the participators, who had 
been pardoned by the Emperor Alexander after 
a sojourn of over forty years in Siberia, the his- 
tory of this conspiracy greatly occupied the Rus- 
sian public. But " in trying to bring to life again 
in his own mind the period of the Decembrists, 
he could not help going back in thought to the 
preceding period — the past of his heroes. Grad- 
ually he penetrated deeper and deeper into the 
causes of the events that he wished to describe — 

into the family history, the education, the social 

238 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

conditions of the characters he had chosen. Final- 
ly he stopped at the time of the Napoleonic wars," 
and wrote what we all know. 

The idea of " The Decembrists " was not lost 
sight of, and the reader who remembers among 
the later chapters of " War and Peace " those 
that describe the home life of Pierre and Natasha 
will see, if he be acquainted with Russian history, 
how skilfully the ground is prepared for another 
epical romance of a similar character. Diis alitcr 
visum. Twice before 1878 the project was taken 
up, and the opening chapters were re-written, but 
it was then abandoned. In the first draught Pierre 
and his family appear in Moscow on their return 
after their long exile in Siberia. 

" ' War and Peace,' " said Tolstoy, " is not a 
novel, still less a poem, still less an historical 
chronicle. It is not presumption on my part if I 
keep clear of customary forms. The history of 
Russian literature from Pushkin down presents 
many similar examples. From the ' Dead Souls ' 
of Gogol to the ' Dead House ' of Dostoievsky 
there is not a single artistic prose work, of more 
than average merit, which keeps entirely to the 
usual form of a novel or a poem. 

" Some of my readers have said that the char- 
acter of the times is not sufficiently shown. I 

239 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

know what they mean — the horrors of serfdom, 
the walling up of wives, the flogging of grown-up 
sons, the Saltytchikha, as she is commonly called 
(that Madame Saltykof who, in the time of 
Catherine II., in the course of eleven or twelve 
years had over a hundred of her serfs whipped to 
death, chiefly women and girls, for not washing 
her linen properly), and things like that. The 
fact is that I did not find all this a true expression 
of the character of the times. After studying no 
end of letters, journals, and traditions I did not 
find such horrors worse than in our own times or 
any other. In those times people also loved, 
hated, sought the truth, tried to do good, and 
were led away by their passions. There was also 
then a complicated, thoughtful, moral life, perhaps 
even more refined than now, in the highest class. 
Our traditions of that epoch are drawn from the 
exceptions. The character of that time comes 
from the greater separation of the highest class 
from the rest, the ruling philosophy, the peculi- 
arities of education, and especially the habit of 
talking French; and it is that character which I 
tried, as far as I could, to portray. 

" You spoke of the similarity of some of the 
names, such as Bolkonsky, Drubetzkoy, Bilibin, 

Kuragin, etc., with well known Russian names. 

240 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

Yes, that I did purposely. In making imaginary 
personages act with real historical characters, 
there seemed to me to be something awkward for 
the ear if Count Rostoptchin talked with a Prince 
Pronsky, or Strelsky, or some other made-up 
name. Although Bolkonsky and Drubetzkoy 
are not Volkonsky and Trubetzkoy, yet they have 
a sound which is natural and customary in Russian 
aristocratic circles. I couldn't invent names for 
everybody, like Bezutchy and Rostof, which did 
not seem false to the ear, and I tried to get 
around the difficulty by taking the names of well- 
known families with the change of a letter or a 
syllable. I should be sorry if this should lead 
people to think that I wanted to represent partic- 
ular persons, especially because that sort of litera- 
ture which consists in the description of persons 
who really exist or have existed has nothing in 
common with my purpose. Maria Dmitrievna 
Akhrosimof le terrible dragon (Madame Ofrosimof) 
and Denisof (the celebrated guerilla leader Denis- 
Davydof) are the only characters to which invol- 
untarily and without thinking I gave names re- 
sembling those of two characteristic and charming 
personages of the society of that time. That is 
my fault, caused by the special characteristics of 
these two persons; but the reader must admit that 

Vol. I.— 16 241 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

there is nothing resembling the truth in their 
actions. All the other characters are entirely im- 
aginary, and even for myself have no original, 
either in tradition or in actual life." 

In spite of this declaration the Count's family 
friends insist that in the Princess Marie Bolkonsky 
he drew an ideal portrait of his own mother; but 
it is possible that the similarity of the name (Prin- 
cess Marie Volkonsky) may have deceived their 
imaginations into seeing a likeness of character. 
The faithful picture of the times is due to a study 
of memoirs, old letters, and personal accounts, 
quite as conscientious as that given by any his- 
torian to his material. There were still living in 
Moscow many old people whose early recollections 
went back to the burning of Moscow, and Tolstoy 
himself must in his younger days have known 
many who had taken at least a minor part in the 
events which form the groundwork of his story. 
The Princess Odoiefsky told me that some ladies, 
and especially a Miss P., a distant connection of 
Tolstoy, and a common friend of us all, had been 
very serviceable in getting at the old people of 
Moscow, and in writing out their stories and 
anecdotes. In fact, society had changed so little 
in Moscow and the country, up to the time of the 

Crimean War, that had Tolstoy described only 

242 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

what he had himself seen, his picture would have 
been true externally of the earlier period; but it 
would have lacked the breath of life, the spirit 
which animated the men of 1812. 

The indication of sources detracts no more from 
the merits of the novelist than from those of the 
historian. At times it is easy to see what influ- 
ences were at work in " War and Peace." The 
history and influence of freemasonry in Russia 
was just at that time a new subject for research, 
as the barriers against historical study and criti- 
cism were being gradually relaxed. The reading, 
by the author, of a series of articles in the Russian 
Messenger, on freemasonry in the time of Cath- 
erine, and the book of Longinof on Novikof, made 
Pierre become a mason, and further guides were 
found in the large collection of masonic books, 
emblems, and rubbish, in the public museum at 
Moscow, which contains most of the archives and 
property of the Russian masonic lodges when they 
were closed and seized. 

One incident in the latter part of the story, the 
indecision of the Countess Helen, Pierre's wife, as 
to her choice of a new husband, is founded on an 
occurrence at St. Petersburg while the story was 
in progress. A certain Madame A., although she 
was not yet divorced from her husband, was eagerly 

243 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

courted by two suitors, the old Chancellor, Prince 
Gortchakof, and the Duke of Leuchtenberg, the 
Emperor's nephew. The Emperor forbade both 
the rivals to marry, one because of the relationship, 
the other on account of his age and family. The 
issue of the story was different. The lady lived 
for a while with Prince Gortchakof as his niece, 
and in that capacity presided at his diplomatic 
dinners; subsequently she ran away with the 
Duke, and years after, in 1879, married him mor- 
ganatically, with the title of Countess Beauhar- 
nais. 

The Vicomte E. M. de Vogue, in his interesting 
and appreciative book " Le Roman Russe," seems 
to imply that Tolstoy's battle descriptions are im- 
itated from the celebrated account of the battle of 
Waterloo in Stendhal's " Chartreuse de Parme," 
the idea of which, Sainte-Beuve in turn says, " was 
taken from an English book, ' The Memoirs of a 
Soldier ' of the Seventy-first Regiment, who took 
part in the battle of Vittoria without understand- 
ing anything about it; much as Fabrice took part 
in that of Waterloo, asking himself afterward if 
he really had been in a battle and had really 
fought." The "Chartreuse de Parme," with all 
its merits, is a signal example of how an historical 

novel should not be written. Tolstoy made im- 

244 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

aginary take part with real characters in historical 
events. Stendhal does the same partially at 
Waterloo and in Milan; but after that all is ficti- 
tious, and, worst of all, real names are given to 
purely imaginary places. The Parma of the novel 
is in no way, either historically or topographically, 
like the real Parma, however much it may be like 
Modena. 

In speaking not of this, but of his treatment of 
history in general, Tolstoy said that the historian 
and the artist, in describing an historical epoch, 
have totally different aims and treat of different 
subjects. " An historian would not be right if he 
tried to present an historical personage in all his 
entirety, in all his complicated relations to all 
sides of life. Neither would an artist do his duty 
if he always gave him his historical signification. 
Kutuzof was not always riding on a white horse, 
with his field-glass in his hand, pointing at the 
enemy. Rostoptchin was not always with a torch 
setting fire to his house at Voronovo (in fact he 
never did this at all), and the Empress Maria 
Feodorovna did not always stand in an ermine 
cloak resting her hand on the ' Code of Laws.' 
But this is the way in which the popular imagi- 
nation pictures them. The historian deals with 
heroes; the artist with men. The historian treats 

245 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

of the results of events; the artist of the facts con- 
nected with the event. 

" Battles are, of course, nearly always described 
in a contradictory way by the two sides; but, be- 
sides this, there is in every description of a battle 
a certain amount of falsehood which is indispen- 
sable on account of the necessity of describing in 
a few words the actions of thousands of people, 
distributed over a space of several miles, all under 
the strongest moral excitement, under the influ- 
ence of fear of disgrace or death. 

" Descriptions of battles generally say that such 
troops were sent to attack such a point, and were 
afterwards ordered to retreat, etc., as if people sup- 
posed that the same discipline which on a parade 
ground moves tens of thousands of men by the 
will of one, could have the same effect where it is 
a question of life or death. Everyone who has 
been in a war knows how untrue this is, and yet 
on this supposition military reports are made out, 
and on them descriptions of battles are written. 

" By the way, a friend told me what was said 

by Nikolai Nikolaievitch Muravief-Karsky about 

my description of Schongraben, which confirms 

my conviction. Muravief, who had been himself 

a commander-in-chief, said that he had never read 

a truer account of a fight, and from his own ex- 

246 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

perience he knew how impossible it was to carry 
out the orders of the commander-in-chief on the 
field of battle. 

" Go about all the troops immediately after an 
engagement, or even on the second or third day, 
before the official reports are written, and question 
all the soldiers and the higher and lower officers 
how things went: all these people will tell you 
what they really felt and saw, and you will receive 
an impression which is grand, complicated, im- 
mensely varied, and solemn, but by no means 
clear; you will learn from no one, still less from 
the commander-in-chief, exactly how the whole 
took place. But in two or three days official re- 
ports begin to come in, talkers begin to describe 
what they never saw, finally the whole report is 
made up, and this creates a sort of public opinion 
in the army. It is so much easier to settle all 
one's doubts and questions by this false, but always 
clear and flattering account. If in a month or 
two you question a man who took part in the bat- 
tle, you will no longer feel in his story that raw, 
living material that was there before, for he will 
tell it according to the official report. The details 
of the battle of Borodino were told to me by many 
shrewd men who took part in it and are still alive. 
They all told the same story, all according to the 

247 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

untrue accounts of Mikailofsky-Danilefsky, Glinka, 
etc., and even related the same details in the same 
way, though they must have been miles off from 
one another. 

" After the loss of Sevastopol, General Kryz- 
hanofsky, the chief of artillery, sent me the reports 
of the artillery officers from all the bastions and 
asked me to combine these twenty or more reports 
into one. I am very sorry that I did not take 
copies of those reports. It was an excellent ex- 
ample of the na'ive, indispensable, military lie out 
of which descriptions are made. I presume that 
many of my comrades, who then made those re- 
ports, would laugh at the recollection of their 
being ordered by their superiors to write about 
what they never saw. All who have experienced 
a war know how fit Russians are to do their mili- 
tary duty, and how unfit they are to describe it 
with the indispensable, bragging lie. Everybody 
knows that in our armies this duty, the compilation 
of reports, is generally performed by our officers 
of non-Russian race. 

" But besides the necessary falsehood in the 
description of events, I find a false way of under- 
standing events. Often when studying the two 
chief historical productions on this epoch, Thiers 
and Mikailofsky-Danilefsky, I am astonished how 

248 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

such books could be printed or read. Without 
speaking of the exposition of the same events in 
the same serious, important tone, with references 
to authorities, and yet diametrically opposed to 
each other, I have found in these histories descrip- 
tions of a sort that I did not know whether to 
laugh or to cry over them, when I remembered 
that these books are the sole memorials of the 
epoch and have millions of readers. I'll give a 
single instance from Thiers, who, in speaking of 
the forged Russian bank-notes brought by Napo- 
leon, says : ' Using these means in an act of benevo- 
lence worthy of himself and of the French army, 
he distributed assistance to the sufferers by the 
conflagration. But provisions being too precious 
to be given for long to strangers, for the most 
part enemies, Napoleon preferred to furnish them 
with money, and had paper rubles distributed to 
them.' If Thiers had fully understood what he 
was saying, could he have written in such a way 
of such an immoral act? " 

This led to a long discussion of the French oc- 
cupation, and of the burning of Moscow, which 
Tolstoy maintained in even stronger terms than 
those he afterwards employed in his novel, was 
solely due to accident. He showed me the large 
library of books and authorities that he had col- 

249 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

lected for his studies, and pointed out to me some 
interesting memoirs and pamphlets which are rare 
and little known. Of Rostoptchin he spoke with 
great contempt. Rostoptchin always denied that 
he had had a hand in the burning of Moscow until 
he found out that, to excuse themselves, the 
French had attributed it to him, and that in his 
visit to France after the restoration this was 
thought a glorious deed of patriotism. He at first 
accepted it modestly, and then boldly boasted of 
it. The legend has been kept alive, partly by the 
chauvinism of French historians and partly by the 
influence of the Segurs (one of whom married his 
daughter) and their numerous relatives and liter- 
ary following. 

Count Tolstoy insisted on his accuracy, and 
especially on his conscientiousness in historical 
matters and said : " Wherever historical characters 
act and speak in my novel, I have imagined noth- 
ing, and have conformed myself strictly to his- 
torical materials and the accounts of witnesses." 
From this the conversation branched off to the 
activity and effect of historical characters on events, 
all of which was afterward said so fully in the epi- 
logue of " War and Peace " that there is no need 
to repeat it here. 

In his early stories Tolstoy had already so suc- 
250 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

ceeded in combining- vivid realistic descriptions 
of places and persons with the moral and meta- 
physical reflections and reasonings of the charac- 
ters that it was natural for the reader to say: 
" This is a real personage; " " That is a genuine 
experience;" "The author must have passed 
through that phase in order to portray it so well." 
Tolstoy laughingly, but in all seriousness, denied 
that there was the slightest autobiographical char- 
acter in the three sketches, " Childhood," " Boy- 
hood," and " Youth," which in the translations 
lately made have been given the names of " Souve- 
nirs " and " Mes Memoires." Indeed, neither do 
the incidents of the book correspond to the facts 
of Tolstoy's life, nor does the moral and mental 
development of Irtenief conform to what Tolstoy 
has told about himself in his " Confessions." Now 
that Tolstoy has become a figure in the religious 
world, his novels and tales have been carefully 
studied by many who seek in them something 
more than their artistic merits; and wherever there 
are traces of the ideas about life and its objects, 
which have been so greatly developed in his mys- 
tical writings, they choose to consider these por- 
tions as autobiographical. Thus Tolstoy is found 
to be present in " The Cossacks," in " War and 
Peace," and in " Anna Karenin " in the respective 

251 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

characters of Olenin, Pierre, and Levin. It would 
be strange if he were not to some extent there 
present, as he invented them. But between put- 
ting a little part and parcel of the author's self 
not only into these, but into every character he 
drew, and autobiography, there is a great differ- 
ence. This constant tendency to see the person- 
ality of the author in his heroes, whether the 
author in question be Byron or Tolstoy, seems to 
me to be a perversion of fact and a perversion of 
criticism. In " Childhood," " Boyhood," and 
" Youth " there are pictures of Russian family life 
so carefully drawn and so well coloured that their 
truth is recognised at once by every Russian of 
that class in society, and by every foreigner who 
has had the good fortune to be intimate with Rus- 
sian families where there are a lot of children. On 
reading the book again, after twenty years, certain 
things strike me now as peculiarities of Russian 
life which were then so natural as to pass unnoticed. 
For instance, Nicolai Irtenief stealing off in a 
sledge to make his second confession at the age of 
fifteen, and saying that this was the first time that 
he had ever been in the street alone without his 
tutor or some one of the family. The pedagogue 
(7raiBay(oy6<;) to sleep in his room, to take him to 

and from school, and follow his every movement, 

252 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

is so usual a character in the life of every well 
brought up Russian boy (as indeed in the life of 
some other European countries) that a foreigner — 
even an American — as soon as he becomes inti- 
mate with Russian life, forgets the strangeness of 
him. In the characters of this book Tolstoy, with 
the aid of his own recollections and his lively 
imagination, simply tried to put himself into the 
place of the boys, with the ideas that he thought 
he might have had at the time. The boy who 
approaches nearest to Tolstoy's character is not 
Irtenief but Prince Nekhliudof, who reappears 
with some of the author's peculiar views in some 
of the stories of the Caucasus, in " A Landlord's 
Morning," and in " Lucerne." While writing the 
other books just mentioned the author was grap- 
pling with some of the great problems of human 
life, and he made Olenin, Pierre, and Levin do 
some of his thinking for him, without intending 
to give them any portion of his individuality. At 
the time of my visit, for instance, Tolstoy was still 
occupied with his studies in freemasonry, and was 
diligently reading the mystical writings of Novi- 
kof and others for the sole purpose of understand- 
ing the psychological history of the early part of 
the century, and not with any intention of seeking 
the highest benefits of humanity through such 

253 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

means. He was simply reading up — cramming 
if you will — for the character of Pierre; and 
Pierre's dabblings with freemasonry must not 
therefore be thought to represent any experience 
or mental process of Count Tolstoy. 

" The Cossacks," Tolstoy assured me, was a true 
story so far as the plot is concerned, and was told 
to him by an officer one night when they were 
travelling together, not even in the Caucasus but 
in the north of Russia. What he had written 
was, however, only the first part, and he then still 
hoped some day to write the rest. Perhaps on 
the whole it is best as it is; as, though a fragment, 
it is perfect in its way — an idyll and not a complete 
story. I told the Count of my first acquaintance 
with Turguenief at Baden-Baden the year before, 
and that he had advised me, if I wished to do any- 
thing more, to translate " The Cossacks," which 
he considered the finest and most perfect product 
of Russian Literature. I asked Tolstoy's permis- 
sion to translate it, which was readily given, but 
I tried my hand first on one of the sketches of 
Sevastopol, and, although I began at " The Cos- 
sacks," changes of post and varied duties pre- 
vented my finishing the translation for fully ten 
years. 



254 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

V 

Tolstoy received with evident pleasure the 
compliments of Turguenief, and spoke of the 
latter's books with appreciation — " Smoke " had 
been published not long before — and of the man 
in terms of affection and sympathy. From noth- 
ing that he said, or that Turguenief ever said on 
the various occasions when he talked to me about 
Tolstoy, to whom he even gave a letter of intro- 
duction, could I have ever imagined that there 
was then a wide breach between the two friends, 
and that the quarrel was not made up till ten 
years later. I learned this only afterwards, and 
gradually came to the whole story of the rupture. 
A brief account of their mutual relations may be 
interesting, and is almost necessary to a proper 
appreciation of Tolstoy at that time. 

Turguenief's admiration of Tolstoy's genius and 
power never varied, although his criticisms were 
sometimes harsh, when it seemed to him in special 
cases that his brother author had taken the wrong 
road. The first reference to Tolstoy in his letters 
seems almost prophetic. He wrote from his 
country place at Spasskoe, on October 24, 1854, 
when Tolstoy was still in the army : " I am im- 
mensely delighted with the continuation of ' Boy- 

255 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

hood; ' may God give Tolstoy long life, as I hope 
he will astonish all of us, for he is a talent of the 
first rank. I made yesterday the acquaintance of 
his sister, who has just married another Tolstoy, 
a highly pleasing, sympathetic woman." In his 
letters of 1855-56 there are some words of praise 
for the Sevastopol sketches. After the war — as I 
have already said — the two writers met and saw 
each other frequently at St. Petersburg, as well 
as in the country, where they visited each other 
for the purpose of shooting. The signs of dis- 
sension soon began to appear. The natures of the 
two men were not at that time harmonious, and 
their ideas ran in very different channels. Tol- 
stoy, who was young, and who as a writer was 
somewhat of a spoilt child, whose ways smacked 
a little still of the freedom of the camp, was in- 
clined to rebel against the tutelage and paternal 
care which Turguenief seemed to be exercising 
over him. He amused himself not only by escap- 
ing from the surveillance of his friends, but by 
occasionally enticing them to a late supper or a 
wild night. Besides that he was much given to 
persiflage, which did not always accord with the 
serious humour of his friend. After leaving Rus- 
sia for Paris in the autumn of 1856, Turguenief 
wrote to Tolstov (November 26th) in replv to a 

256 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

letter of his, " I have reflected seriously over all 
that you write, and it seems to me that you are 
wrong. I can be quite frank to you, because it 
would be impossible for me to be false where you 
are concerned. We seem to have made our ac- 
quaintance in an awkward way and not at the 
right time; when we see each other again things 
will go smoother and better. I feel that I love 
you as a man; as regards the writer words are 
superfluous. But there is much in you with 
which I am not quite satisfied, so that I thought 
it better to keep away from you: when we see 
each other again we will try to go hand in hand 
and perhaps will succeed better. But here, far 
away from you, odd as it may sound, my heart 
hangs on you as on a brother, and I am very ten- 
derly disposed towards you: perhaps with time 
everything good will come of this. I heard of 
your illness and was much troubled; but I beg 
you to banish all remembrance of it. You are 
anxious about yourself, and think perhaps of con- 
sumption — but, by God, you have it not." Then 
follow questions about Tolstoy's sister and brother, 
talk about common friends, and about the state of 
affairs in Paris, and then literature comes up. 
" You have already finished the first number of 
* Youth : ' that is splendid. How vexed I am 
Vol. I.— 17 257 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

that I cannot hear you read it ! If you do not go 
off on by-ways, you will go far. I wish you 
health, activity, and spiritual freedom. ... As 
concerns my ' Faust,' I scarcely believe it will 
please you. My writings were at one time able 
to please you, and possibly even to influence you, 
but only until you became independent; now you 
can learn nothing more from me. You see only 
the difference of the style, the slips and the faults ; 
you need now only to study men, your own heart, 
and really great writers. I am only a writer of 
the transition period, and am only good for 
people who are in the transition period." 

About this time he wrote to a literary friend, 
Druzhinin : " People tell me that you sympathise 
with Tolstoy, and that he is become very polished 
and clear. I am much delighted with that. 
When this young wine has gone through the proc- 
ess of fermentation it will be a drink fit for the 
gods." 

A few days after, December 8, 1856, he writes 
again to Tolstoy : 

" Dear Tolstoy : My good genius took me 
yesterday to the Post-Office and inspired me to 
ask whether there were any letters for me Poste 
Restante, although I supposed that all my friends 
had my Paris address. There I really found your 

258 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

letter in which you speak of my ' Faust.' You 
will easily understand with what joy I read it. 
Your sympathy gave me deep and sincere pleas- 
ure. Your whole letter breathes a gentle and 
calm feeling, a friendly peace; and it only re- 
mains for me to stretch my hand over the gulf 
which had long ago become a scarcely notice- 
able crack; about which we will think no more, 
as it is not worth the trouble. I am shy about 
speaking on one thing which you mentioned in 
your letter, . . . but may everything turn out 
for the best, and may it bring to you that peace 
of soul which you so need — or rather did need 
when I learned to know you. As I see, you 
sympathise for the moment very much with Druz- 
hinin, and are under his influence. Very well, but 
take care that you don't eat yourself sick off him. 
When I was at your age none but enthusiastic 
natures had any influence over me; but you are 
a very different man from me, and it is quite 
possible that his journal, The Times, is now 
changed." 

Turguenief saw Tolstoy often during the latter's 
journey abroad, but wrote to a friend (March, 
1857) : " I cannot thoroughly sympathise with 
Tolstoy. We seem to be far too unlike each 
other." 

The summer of 1861 Turguenief spent on his 
Russian estate, where he was finishing " Fathers 

259 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

and Sons," and had frequent opportunities of see- 
ing Tolstoy. It was then that the great breach be- 
tween the two friends took place. Different ver- 
sions became current. That given by Pavlofsky 
is substantially as follows : 

He had visiting him at one time, besides Tolstoy, 
his friend the poet Fet; a very good fellow, who 
had a large estate in the neighbourhood to which 
he was just then devoting himself heart and soul, 
letting his beard grow, and giving himself all the 
airs of a country gentleman of the old Russian 
school. There were also some others, one of them 
an intimate friend. An excursion had been or- 
ganised to Fet's estate, and the party was taking 
a hasty breakfast while the carriages were waiting. 
Somebody thoughtlessly asked Turguenief about 
his daughter — a subject on which he was very sen- 
sitive. " She is always abroad," he replied, " and 
as I did not like her education to be entirely French, 
I have got for her now an English governess, an 
excellent woman." Tolstoy smiled (little thinking 
that he should ever have an English governess for 
his children) and said, " Yes, she will be taking 
your daughter to visit the poor, and leaving money 
and medicine on the table." " Well," said Turgue- 
nief, " there's no harm in any case; because the 

poor will receive some aid, and the child will begin 

260 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

to understand the duty everyone owes to the suf- 
fering." 

" Yes, if it is not one thing it is the other. If 
your daughter does not get a good education, at 
least the poor will receive something. She's your 
natural daughter, isn't she? " 

"Yes, well?" 

" Well, you seem to be making an experiment 
in anima vili." 

Turguenief could scarcely contain himself, espe- 
cially when he thought he saw a gleam of satisfac- 
tion in Tolstoy's eyes that his power of teasing 
should have been so successful, and burst out: 
' Tolstoy, stop, or I'll throw my fork at your 
head." 

Both calmed down and the affair seemed ended. 
It is necessary to say that the mother of this 
daughter of Turguenief was one of his serfs, who 
subsequently married a shopkeeper at Moscow. 
Such children born of serfs were as little regarded 
by Russians who lived at home as children born 
of negro or mulatto slaves were regarded by the 
Southern planters in the United States at the same 
time. Although his daughter, she was his serf; and 
therefore, according to the ways of thinking at that 
time, Tolstoy's remark was not quite so brutal as 
it might seem to us now. It was the peculiar sen- 

261 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

sitiveness of Turguenief on this subject that gave 
it importance. 

Tolstoy went to an estate of his in the neighbour- 
hood, while Turguenief and the others went to see 
Fet, where they spent some days. On returning, 
Turguenief found two notes from Tolstoy; one an 
apology and sincere regret for what he had said; 
the other, that the insult given to him could only 
be wiped out in blood, and challenging him to 
come the next morning, between five and six 
o'clock, to a place mentioned, and kill each other 
without witnesses. Turguenief thereupon sent one 
of his friends to propose a regular duel according 
to the code. But Tolstoy had already gone back 
to Yasnaya Polyana, and, when he was found, re- 
peated his apologies and retracted his challenge. 
Of course the matter got out, and all sorts of 
stories were circulated at Moscow; before which, 
however, Turguenief wrote to his friend Annenkof : 
" I have entirely and decisively quarrelled with Leo 
Tolstoy. The question of a duel hung on a hair, 
and at this moment the hair is not yet broken. The 
fault is mine: but it was all the result of an old 
hostility — an antipathy of our two natures. I have 
always felt sure that he hated me, and I can never 
understand why, nevertheless, he used to come 

back to me. I have been forced to keep my dis- 

262 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

tance — then I have tried to approach him; and we 
were very near approaching each other with pistols 
in our hands. I have never liked him." 

Turguenief went off to Paris; but gossip and 
scandal were rife in Moscow, and somewhat later 
he heard to his surprise that Tolstoy had circulated 
among his friends a defamatory letter. He wrote 
to Annenkof: "In all this business, except at the 
beginning, when I was wrong, I have done every- 
thing to avoid this radical conclusion; but Tolstoy 
has insisted on driving me to the foot of the wall, 
so to speak, and consequently I can't do otherwise 
than fight. Next spring we shall be face to face 
at Tula." He enclosed a copy of the letter or chal- 
lenge which he had written to Tolstoy, proposing 
to fight as soon as he should return to Russia in 
the spring. Tolstoy immediately wrote to Turgue- 
nief, denying categorically that he had circulated 
any letter or had given the slightest cause for any 
injurious remarks. There was therefore no cause 
for a duel, and it did not come off; and Turguenief 
wrote to his friend: "We are not going to fight, 
of which I am very glad." But the two writers 
had not again met when I was at Yasnaya Polyana, 
and did not in fact see each other until the summer 
of 1878. 

With the passing years the old friendly feeling 
263 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

returned, fostered naturally by the respect each had 
for the other's talent. We have, unfortunately, 
very few letters of Turguenief between 1862 and 
1868; in January, 1868, he wrote to Polonsky: 
" The lack of talent, especially of poetical talent, 
is our misfortune. Since Leo Tolstoy nothing has 
come up, and his first work was already printed in 
1852." Two months later he was reading " War 
and Peace " and wrote: " The novel of Tolstoy is 
a wonderful work, but its weakest side — and that 
is what the public especially enjoy — is its history 
and psychology. His history is sleight of hand, 
dazzling your eyes with trivial details; and his psy- 
chology is a capriciously uniform turmoil over one 
of the same set of themes; everything that has a 
relation to life, description, the military part, and 
so forth is thoroughly excellent. A master equal 
to Tolstoy we do not possess." In 1875 he says: 
" ' Anna Karenin ' does not please me, though 
there are truly splendid passages in it — the races, 
the mowing, the hunt — but it all tastes sour, and 
smells of Moscow, incense, old maids, Slavophilism, 
Junkerthum." And about the same time: " He has 
a very extraordinary talent, but in ' Anna Karenin ' 
il a fait fausse route. One notices here the influ- 
ences of Moscow, of the Slavophile nobility, of 

orthodox old maids, as well as his own retired life 

264 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

and the lack of the necessary artistic freedom. The 
second part is insipid, tiresome, and unmeaning; 
that is a pity! " It is fair to say that at this time 
the novel was not yet finished; and the conclusion 
was not published for three years thereafter. On 
the last day of 1876, speaking of a recently pub- 
lished criticism on Tolstoy, he wrote: " I think the 
critic exaggerates. But how can one help com- 
plaining that this man, who is so unusually gifted, 
should do exactly that which he ought not to do, 
just as if he were trying to win a bet." 

Finally, whether it was brought about by the 
intervention of friends, or whether caused by a sud- 
den impulse, Tolstoy, in the spring of 1878, wrote 
to Turguenief. We possess only the reply : 

"Paris, May 8, 1878. 
" Dear Leo Nikolaievitch : I have just re- 
ceived your letter, which has greatly rejoiced and 
touched me. I am very sincerely ready to renew 
our early friendship and warmly grasp the hand 
you have stretched out to me. You are per- 
fectly right in supposing that I have no kind of 
hostile feelings towards you. Even if they once 
existed they have long ago disappeared, and 
there remains only the remembrance of you as 
a man to whom I was once attached, and as 
an author whose first steps I was one of the 
earliest to appreciate, and whose works of imag- 

265 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

ination have always excited in me the most lively 
interest. I am heartily delighted at getting rid of 
the misunderstandings which had come up be- 
tween us. I hope to go to Orel this summer, 
when we shall certainly see each other." 



At the beginning of August Turguenief arrived 
at Moscow, and immediately wrote to Tolstoy, pro- 
posing either to go to Yasnaya Polyana or to have 
a meeting at Tula. Tolstoy, who was then medi- 
tating a long novel — though he had not then be- 
gun it, and perhaps has not yet done so — went to 
meet him at Tula, carried him off home, and kept 
him several days. On reaching his own estate 
Turguenief wrote to him : " I must repeat to you 
again what a good and agreeable impression my 
visit to Yasnaya Polyana made upon me, and how 
glad I am that our earlier misunderstanding has so 
disappeared as to leave no traces of having ever 
existed. I feel clearly and plainly that Life, which 
has whitened our hairs, has not been useless to us, 
and that both you and I are better to-day than we 
were sixteen years ago. This feeling does me 
much good." And again, ten days later: "I am 
very glad to hear that everybody at Yasnaya Pol- 
yana looked on me with friendly eyes. There is no 

doubt but that the bond you speak of exists be- 

266 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

tween us, and I am very glad of it, although I will 
not investigate all the threads of which it is woven. 
The main point is that it exists." 

The next letters to Tolstoy were taken up partly 
with my translation of " The Cossacks," which, I 
regret to say, was found " literal, but dry and mat- 
ter of fact," with an idea he had of himself trans- 
lating " The Cossacks " into French, and with 
efforts to put on the Paris market the French 
translation of " War and Peace." In one of these 
letters he says : "lam glad that you are all physi- 
cally well, and hope also that your intellectual ill- 
ness, about which you wrote, has disappeared. I 
have gone through the same thing. It has often 
appeared in the form of an inner fermentation be- 
fore the beginning of a work. I believe that you 
have had some such fermentation. Although you 
ask me not to speak of your writings, I cannot 
help remarking that I have never made fun of you 
even in the very slightest degree. Some of your 
works pleased me very much — others less : for ex- 
ample, ' The Cossacks ' caused me great pleasure 
and astonishment. Why should I have laughed at 
you? I thought that you had long ago got rid of 
those feelings of old times." 

At another time he sends him a letter from Flau- 
bert about the French translation of " War and 

267 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

Peace." " Thanks for having made me read the 
novel of Tolstoy; it is of the first order. What a 
painter and what a psychologist! The first two 
volumes are sublime, but the third falls off horri- 
bly (degringole affreusement). He repeats himself 
when he philosophises. At the end you see the 
gentleman, the author, and the Russian — while up 
to that time you had seen only nature and human- 
ity. There seemed to me sometimes to be things 
like Shakespeare. I kept uttering cries of admira- 
tion while reading it — and it is long: yes, it is 
strong, very strong " (oui, c'est fort, bien fort). 

Turguenief talked much about the necessity of 
advertisement and reclame to make anything suc- 
ceed in Paris, and said : " During these last few 
days I have read for the fifth or sixth time with 
ever new enjoyment this truly great creation of 
yours. Its whole putting together is very differ- 
ent from what the French like and demand in 
books. But its truth keeps the upper hand. I 
hope, if not for a famous victory, at least for an 
enduring, though slow, conquest. You tell me 
nothing about your new work, though there are 
rumours here that you are working diligently. I 
see you in spirit sitting before your writing-table 
in that simple room that you showed me." The 

summer of 1881 Turguenief spent at Spasskoe, 
^268 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

where his friend Polonsky paid him a long visit, 
which he has described very pleasantly in an arti- 
cle called " Turguenief at Home." Among other 
events Tolstoy spent a couple of days there and 
sent him a copy of his collected works. 1 

After his departure Turguenief read aloud por- 
tions of Tolstoy's works, especially the forty-third 
chapter of the first part of " War and Peace," and 

1 The following is the account by Polonsky of Tolstoy's visit: " One 
Wednesday, July 8th, Turguenief received a telegram from Leo Niko- 
laievitch Tolstoy, informing him that he would reach Mzensk on 
Thursday at ten o'clock in the evening. Turguenief therefore ordered 
the horses to be sent to meet him the next day. 

" That evening we separated soon after taking tea, and went to our 
own rooms. I sat down to my table, pulled the candles nearer, and 
wrote out my impressions of the journey I had just made, till one 
o'clock. Suddenly I heard someone whistling in the court-yard, the 
sound of steps, and the dogs all barking. I looked out of the window, 
but there was no moonlight and I could distinguish nothing. 

" I sat down again to my writing, but heard someone pass through 
the garden towards the house, and then dimly heard a voice in the 
house. I thought that one of my children was talking in his sleep, 
and went into the children's room. I again heard the voice, this time 
quite plainly, and I recognised it as Turgu^nief's. 'What the devil's 
the row? Are there thieves in the house? ' I went in the dark 
through the whole house, and opened the door of a room which had 
an exit to the terrace, and into Turguenief's study. A candle was 
burning there, and a gray-haired, bronzed peasant, in a blouse girt 
by a strap, was reckoning up with another peasant. I looked at him 
and did not know him. The peasant raised his head, gave an inquiring 
glance at me, and asked: ' Polonsky, is that you? ' Then for the first 
time I recognised Count Leo Tolstoy. We embraced and kissed each 
other warmly. 

" It turned out that the Count had mistaken the day of the week, 
and had said Thursday when he meant Wednesday. Not finding Tur- 
guenief's carriage at the railway station he had taken another; but as 
the night was dark and the driver scarcely knew the way, he had 
taken all this time in coming. Turguenief also had not yet gone to 
bed and was writing. He was surprised and greatly delighted to find 
the Count. The samovar and a little supper soon made their apoear- 
ance in the dining-room, and we talked till three o'clock. 

" The day after Tolstoy's arrival we had a comical incident. An 
hour before dinner Turguenief was told that the cook was dead drunk 

269 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

greatly excited said, shaking his head : " I know 
nothing in European literature finer than this de- 
scription. . . . That is a description ! " And 
he was as delighted as if he had discovered it for 
the first time. 

But while Turguenief thought Tolstoy a great 
writer and admired and prized his talent, he from 
time to time considered him from his own moral 
and aesthetic standpoint. In other words, he ap- 
plied to the views of Tolstoy the measure of his 
own views about men, and was not always satisfied. 
While he was reading " Anna Karenin " he could 
not understand why Tolstoy was so evidently pre- 
possessed in favour of Levin, who was to him an 
unsympathetic character. " Can you for a moment 
believe," said Turguenief to Polonsky, " that Le- 
vin is in love with Kitty, or that he could ever 

and that there was no one to prepare the dinner. At first he was 
much perplexed. The guests could not be left without dinner, and 
so he resolved to cook it himself. Rubbing his hands he explained 
how he would cut the turnips and chop up the cutlets. He had already 
started for the kitchen when Zakhar, vigilant as Argus and mysteri- 
ously silent, though not dumb, immediately reined in the passionate 
ardour of his former master, and gave him a hard scolding. ' That's 
not your business,' he said, ' go away. We can get dinner ready with- 
out you.' And Turguenief at once obediently returned to our society. 
In this way the culinary talents of the honoured Ivan Sergh&evitch have 
been hidden from posterity. I cannot repeat all that was said in our 
conversation with Tolstoy; but I can asseverate that there was noth- 
ing which in society is known as ' censurable talk.' The Count pressed 
his views on no one, and listened to Turguenief's remarks and objec- 
tions. In short, he was no longer that Count that I had once known 
in his youth. He did not stay more than two days at Spasskoe, and 
then travelled to his estates in the government of Samara, where he 
wanted to be for the harvest." 

270 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

love anybody? No; love is one of those passions 
which annihilates our ' Me ' and compels us in 
some degree to forget ourselves and our interests. 
But Levin, even after he knows that he is loved 
and is happy, never ceases holding fast to his own 
personality, and flattering himself. It seems to 
him that the very drozhky-drivers — especially they 
— offer him their service with peculiar respect and 
readiness. He is annoyed that people near Kitty 
greet him. He does not for a minute cease being 
an egotist, and sees something quite extraordinary 
in himself. Psychologically this is all perfectly 
correct (although I do not like psychological pre- 
cision and minuteness in a novel), but all these 
details show that Levin is thoroughly selfish, and 
it is easy to understand why he sees in women 
beings created merely for house-wifely and family 
cares and for empty prattle. It is said that the 
author is himself like this Levin, but that is scarce- 
ly the case; at most he may have transferred to 
Levin one individual trait of his own character and 
worked it up artistically; but even with all that, I 
cannot see what there is to awaken our sympathy." 
" Not love alone," continued Turguenief, " but 
every violent passion, religious, political, social — 
yes, even the passion for study — can destroy our 
selfishness. Fanatics for hateful and senseless 

271 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

ideas do not spare their lives, so great is their 
love." 

A year later, October 31, 1882, Turguenief 
wrote : " I have lately received from a very dear 
Moscow lady that ' Confession ' of Leo Tolstoy 
that has been forbidden by the censorship. I read 
it with the greatest interest. A remarkable piece 
of writing for its straightforwardness, its sincerity, 
and its conviction : but it is wholly based on false 
propositions, and if carried out to the end would 
lead to the saddest denial of energetic human 
life; . . . this is a kind of Nihilism. I wonder 
greatly why Tolstoy, who among other things also 
renounces and denounces art, surrounds himself 
with artists, and what they can learn from his con- 
versation. Nevertheless Tolstoy is perhaps the 
most remarkable man in the Russia of to-day." 

When, a few months later, Turguenief lay on his 
death-bed, he probably thought over the ideas in 
Tolstoy's " Confession " and the long conversation 
— the last — that they had had during the brief visit 
at Spasskoe. And taking up a pencil, he wrote to 
Tolstoy that touching appeal to be himself once 
more; the last words he ever wrote: 

" Dear and Beloved Leo Nikolaievitch : 

" I have not written to you for a long time; for 
I lay and lie, in two words, on my death-bed. I 

272 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

cannot get well, that is not to be thought of. 
But I write in order to tell you how glad I am to 
have been your contemporary, and to make my 
last, earnest request. My friend, return to literary 
work ! This talent of yours has come down from 
whence all else comes. O ! how happy would I be 
if I could believe that my prayer would be an- 
swered ! But I am only a man who is near his end 
— the doctors do not even know how to call 
my disease — nenralgie stomachale goutteuse. I can 
neither stand, nor eat, nor sleep; but what am I 
saying! It is wearisome to repeat all this! My 
friend, great writer of the Russian land — give heed 
to my prayer! Let me know if you receive this 
scrap, and allow me once more to embrace warmly, 
warmly yourself, your wife, and all yours! . . . 
I can write no more. . . . I am tired ! " x 

Tolstoy deeply lamented Turguenief's death, 
and, speaking of his delicate, loving nature, lament- 
ed that a writer so artistic in the highest sense, and 
so devoted to Russia, should have passed his best 
and ripest years abroad, afar from his sincere 
friends and away from his own family. 

" He was till the end of his life," said Tolstoy 



1 The artist Verestchagin, who was present at the death of Tur- 
guenief, says: "Madame Arnold told me that Turguenief was much 
agitated by a letter which he wrote from his death-bed to Tolstoy. I 
was sitting by the table when he called me; he gave me a piece of 
paper on which he had written in pencil, and said, ' Please send this 
off at once, it is very urgent.' " 

Vol. I.— 18 273 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

to Danilefsky, " an independent, inquiring spirit; 
and, notwithstanding our temporary breach, I al- 
ways highly esteemed him and warmly loved him. 
He was a genuine self-reliant artist, never lower- 
ing himself to consciously serving a passing de- 
mand of the minute. He may have gone astray, 
but even in his errors was sincere." 



VI 

In helping Tolstoy rearrange his library I re- 
member that the collected works of Auerbach were 
given the first place on the first shelf, and, taking 
out the volumes of " Ein Neues Leben," the Count 
told me to read it after I had got to bed, as it was 
a very remarkable book, and added : " It was ow- 
ing to this that I started a school for my peasants 
and became interested in popular education. When 
I went back to Europe the second time I went to 
see Auerbach, without giving my name. When he 
came into the room I merely said, ' I am Eugen 
Baumann,' and, when he hesitated in surprise, I 
hastened to add : ' not really in name, but in char- 
acter; ' and then told him who I was, how his book 
had set me thinking, and what good it had done 

me." 

274 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

It so happened that in the following winter I 
spent a few days in Berlin, where, in the hospitable 
house of Mr. Bancroft, then the American Minis- 
ter, I had the pleasure of meeting Auerbach, with 
whom during my stay I became well acquainted. 
In talking about Russia we spoke of Tolstoy, and 
I recalled to him this incident. " Yes," he said, 
" I always remember how frightened I was when 
this strange-looking man said, ' I am Eugen Bau- 
mann,' for I feared he was going to threaten 
me with an action for libel and defamation of 
character." 

" Ein Neues Leben " naturally brought us to 
talk of peasant schools, and of the general condi- 
tion of the peasantry, and of the results of emanci- 
pation, and the Count took me through the peasant 
village of the estate, which is close to the ruined 
pillars of the large gateway of the park. 

" The houses are low huts of one story " — I 
quote from a letter written by me at the time from 
Yasnaya Polyana — "built generally of logs; brick 
houses are not thought so warm. 1 

" The entrance takes you into the court, on one 
side of which are cattle and horse-sheds, made of 
interlaced twigs and covered with straw; on the 
other side is the door leading into the hut, which 

1 Printed in the Evening Post of New York, November 27, 1868. 
275 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

consists usually of a single room lighted by two 
small windows, each with double frames to keep 
out the cold. There is no ceiling, but the room is 
open to the roof, which is thatched with straw. 
The floor is sometimes of earth, but more gener- 
ally of brick or boards. There is a large brick 
stove which keeps the house perfectly warm. 
There is seldom more than a single chair, but 
rough benches are disposed about the sides of the 
room, and there are one or two tables. Behind a 
screen is usually a sort of bed for the master of the 
house, and a cradle — a square board suspended 
from a beam by four cords attached to the corners 
and gathered into a knot, resembling the scale of 
a balance. There is a little shelf in one corner, 
with the usual holy picture, and perhaps a small 
lamp burning in front of it. Except the wooden 
dishes and utensils there is no other furniture. 
The families are always very large, and people 
sleep on the stove, on the benches, or on the floor. 
It is quite customary here for the younger married 
members of a family to sleep in the sheds, or in the 
court. They do this even in winter, though some- 
times in the morning they are covered with snow. 
The peasants' houses in this part of Russia are per- 
haps the worst of all. In the north of Russia, 
where wood is abundant, though the peasants are 
actually poorer, they have larger and better houses 
and more furniture. All the peasant huts which I 
saw on the Volga, or even at one hundred miles 
from it in the government of Samara — where wood 

276 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

was so scarce that they burned dung for fuel — were 
larger, usually of two or even three rooms, and had 
more furniture, and well carved cupboards for the 
crockery and the holy pictures. 

" One evening I paid a visit to an old peasant in 
one of these huts. The room was lighted with a 
lutchina, or piece of birchwood, which gave out a 
bright blaze. This is a narrow strip of wood held 
between three nails on the top of a wooden stand- 
ard, and as each piece will burn not more than two 
minutes, a little girl has to be constantly replen- 
ishing the burner. The ashes are caught in an 
earthen vessel. An old woman was weaving a 
coarse linen cloth with a rude machine. A man 
was making, very neatly and deftly, lapti, or the 
shoes of linden bast which the peasants usually 
wear. The most interesting sight was a man beat- 
ing wool. He had fixed to the wall a large strong 
bow, strung with a heavy gut string. He kept the 
string in continual vibration by striking it with a 
heavy, notched piece of wood, and at each vibra- 
tion the string caught up and tore apart the wool, 
and sent it down to the floor in white snowy flocks 
like soapsuds. It was as well carded as if it had 
been done with a machine. 1 This was the trade of 
this man, who goes from house to house and earns 
perhaps a ruble and a half a day, if he works stead- 
ily. His coming is rather a festival in the house, 
as he is usually a merry fellow, and sings to the 

1 Exactly the same instrument is used in Central Asia for carding 
cotton. 

277 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

music of his bow-string. The winter is the intel- 
lectual season for the Russian peasants as for the 
rest of the world. They begin to use lights on the 
15th (27th) of September, and from that time on 
they work in the evening, while the old women tell 
stories and the young people sing. Usually all the 
young girls meet together for singing and spin- 
ning, and go from house to house on successive 
evenings. In this cottage was a very intelligent 
boy about fourteen, who knew something about 
America, and had a fair elementary education. 

" There is no church in the village, but half-way 
between this and the village of the next proprietor 
is a neat old church, called St. Nicholas of the Ant- 
hills, from a miraculous image of St. Nicholas said 
to have been found in some ant-hills in the neigh- 
bourhood. I am told that the priest has absolutely 
no influence on his flock. The peasants are relig- 
ious, but respect the proprietors more than the 
priests, and are more influenced by them both for 
good and evil. Count Tolstoy says that the entire 
abolition of the priesthood would probably have no 
effect whatever on the morality of the peasantry. 
The morals here, as in all villages which are near 
a high road, are not good. The women are early 
corrupted by the soldiers who pass. As to drunk- 
enness, it is neither worse nor better than others. 
The men are nearly all cartmen and drivers, and 
have the faults of that class. The land is therefore 
cultivated almost entirely by women. 

" I asked Count Tolstoy what he thought had 
278 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

been the effect of emancipation. He told me that 
he had been a supporter of the measure, and one 
of the officers to carry it out — a mediator of the 
peace — but that he now thought that it had come 
too soon : that it had been reached by reasoning 
only by theoretical men, and had not come, as in 
Western Europe, through the demand of the peo- 
ple, or by the necessity of the case. So far as the 
material condition of the peasants is concerned, he 
thought that the emancipation was injurious. He 
always judged the prosperity of a village by the 
amount of live stock, and always counted that 
whenever he passed a village, and had noticed that 
the amount was continually decreasing. His peas- 
ants had three dcssyatines (nine acres) of land per 
head, held in common, for which an annual rent of 
three rubles per dessyatine is paid. They have the 
privilege of buying this land at fifty rubles per 
dessyatine, and can even buy for thirty; but to his 
knowledge no peasant in his district has purchased 
land and settled on it as in other countries, though 
many of them do not lack the means. The peas- 
ants are glad to work as little as possible, and like 
to spend most of their time in a drinking-house. 
Unfortunately just about the time of the emanci- 
pation the taxes on spirits were very much reduced, 
and this has been productive of much drunkenness. 
It is now proposed to raise them again, and limit 
the number of licenses to sell." 



279 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

While it may have been Auerbach's novel which 
turned Tolstoy's mind particularly toward the sub- 
ject of peasant education, yet in starting a school 
he was only conforming to the spirit of the time — 
for philanthropy was then in the air — as well as sat- 
isfying his own personal desires to do good, desires 
common in that emancipation period to all liberal 
spirits. In 1862, in that small district, containing 
about ten thousand inhabitants, there were four- 
teen good schools besides ten petty ones, taught by 
church readers, or old soldiers, or simply for the 
servants' children on the various estates. The 
school which Tolstoy founded he placed in a two- 
storied brick house on his estate, separated from 
the village by a little ravine. It was open both 
morning and evening, and had on an average about 
forty pupils, boys and girls : some coming long dis- 
tances and even from other villages, attracted by 
the fact that the instruction was free, and the school 
enjoyed a good reputation. In its last year there 
were four teachers, but Tolstoy frequently gave 
personal instruction — at one time he passed all his 
evenings there — in Russian, and especially in Bible 
History, in singing and in drawing, as he was then 
passionately fond of music and art. This school 
flourished for about three years, when it died a nat- 
ural death; not so much from any lack of interest 

280 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

on Tolstoy's part, as because every child in the vil- 
lage, which had only one hundred and fifty inhabi- 
tants, had learned to read and write, and had ac- 
quired all the other knowledge he seemed capable 
of mastering, and new pupils could not grow up 
fast enough to make it worth while keeping up the 
school. A sort of school lingered on, but it was 
subsequently closed, apparently in consequence of 
some mistaken interpretation of a circular of the 
Minister of Public Instruction; and new schools 
were forbidden to be opened unless the number of 
the pupils seemed to satisfy the Government. In 
connection with this school Tolstoy published a lit- 
tle journal under the name of Ydsnaya Polydna, in 
which he gave a description of the school itself and 
of the method of teaching employed there; as well 
as long papers containing his views on the general 
subject of education, and specimens of the compo- 
sitions and themes of the pupils. This journal, a 
copy of which he hunted up and gave to me, has 
now become very rare; but many portions of it, to- 
gether with some articles published elsewhere, are 
now included in the fourth volume of his Collected 
Works. The three papers describing the school in 
November and December, 1862, have been trans- 
lated, at least into French, and are well worth read- 
ing even by those not at all interested in education, 

281 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

for they contain passages descriptive of children 
and life in a Russian village which are equal to parts 
of his best novels. There are also interesting pas- 
sages in the longer essays which have not yet been 
translated, but more because they throw light on 
the development of Tolstoy's character, than be- 
cause what he says, or what anyone else may say, 
about the education of Russian peasants is of any 
importance to us who live in a very different phase 
of civilisation. 1 

1 Toystoy in his Confession is not just either to himself or to his 
schoolwork. He says: "When I came back from my journey abroad 
I settled in the country and accidentally hit on occupying myself 
with peasant schools. This occupation was quite according to my 
liking, because there was not apparent in it that falsity which had 
so impressed me in my literary teaching. Here I was also acting in 
the name of Progress, but I had already begun to be critically dis- 
posed towards Progress itself. I said to myself that Progress in some 
of its phases was irregular, and that it was therefore necessary that 
our relations towards unsophisticated people, towards simple peasant 
children, should be perfectly free, and that they should be allowed to 
choose that path of progress which they preferred. In reality I was 
always turning about the same insoluble problem, teaching without 
knowing what I taught. In the higher spheres of literary activity I 
understood that it was possible to teach without knowing what to 
teach, because all writers taught differently, and concealed from them- 
selves their own ignorance only by their disputes with one another; 
here with peasant children I thought it possible to get over this diffi- 
culty by allowing children to learn what they wished. Now I laugh 
in recollecting how I tacked in order to accomplish my desire of 
teaching, although I knew very well in the depth of my soul that I 
could teach no one anything useful because I myself did not know 
what was useful. After passing a year over my school I went abroad 
a second time, in order to learn there how to gain the art of teaching 
others, when one knew nothing one's self. 

" It seemed to me that I had learned that abroad, and armed with 
all this wisdom and skill I returned to Russia in the year of the 
Emancipation of the Serfs, took the place of mediator, and began to 
teach the ignorant people in the schools and the educated class in a 
journal that I started publishing. Everything seemed to go on well, 
but I used to feel that I was not quite right in mind, and that it 

282 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

Tolstoy's school was free in more senses than 
one, for generally no attempt was made to keep 
order or discipline, and only those subjects were 
taught which interested the pupils, and only so far 
as that interest continued to exist. The great 
questions in his mind were, What can one teach? 
and How can one teach? 

" In the decision of these questions I was aided 
by a sort of pedagogic tact which I possessed, es- 

could not last long. I might have reached the same despair which 
came on me fifteen years later, if there had not been yet one side of 
life which I had not yet experienced, and which promised me salva- 
tion: that was family life. 

" During a whole year I continued to act as mediator, buried myself 
in my schools and my journal, and worked so hard that I became worn 
out. The continual disputes between serf and master, that I tried to 
settle as mediator, weighed on me; my work in my schools seemed 
to come to nothing; and I began to hate my tacking and veering in 
my journal, all with a desire of teaching everybody, and of concealing 
the fact that I did not know what I taught. I grew ill, rather morally 
than physically; I threw up everything, and went off into the steppes 
among the Bashkirs, where I could breathe the pure air, drink kumyss, 
and lead an animal life. 

" When I came back I married. The new conditions of a happy fam- 
ily life turned me completely away from any search for the general 
meaning of life. My whole life at this time was concentrated in my 
family, my wife, and my children; and then in studying how to in- 
crease our fortune. My aspiration for personal perfection, which had 
already given place for a desire for perfection in general, for progress, 
now completely gave way to a desire to make myself and my family as 
comfortable as possible. 

" Thus fifteen years passed. Notwithstanding the fact that during 
all that time I considered literature to be nonsense, I nevertheless con- 
tinued to write. I had already tasted the charm of literature, the charm 
of receiving great pecuniary reward and much applause for worthless 
work, and I gave myself up to it again as a means of bettering my fort- 
une and of suffocating in my soul all questions about my life and 
about life in general. I wrote what was for me the only truth then, 
that one should live so that one's self and family should be as com- 
fortable as possible." 

This is the way in which Tolstoy now describes himself as he was 
at the time that I visited him at Yasnaya Polyana. 

283 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

pecially by my zeal for the work. Coming all at 
once into the closest personal relations with the 
forty little men who constituted my school (I call 
them little men because I found in them those same 
traits, sagacity, a great knowledge of practical life, 
a fund of humour, simplicity, perfect straightfor- 
wardness, which characterise in general the Rus- 
sian peasant); perceiving their impressionableness, 
and their readiness to obtain what knowledge they 
needed, I immediately felt that the old clerical way 
of teaching had outlived its time and did not suit 
them. 

" After that I tried modes proposed by peda- 
gogic writers, especially Germans, and found, too, 
that they did not suit; and much — especially where 
there was an effort to teach by sight or by sound — 
was distasteful to the pupils and often laughed at. 
Compulsion was contrary to all my ideas, and 
therefore when I found that one subject was repul- 
sive, I tried to find something which the pupils 
would be glad to learn. I experimented at the 
same time on what were the best ways of teaching 
even these subjects. People, who came to know 
my school personally, approved and applied some 
of my ideas, which I set forth sometimes at very 
great length in the journal which I had started for 
that purpose. But I must admit that I was an- 
noyed — being younger then — not so much at the 
fact that my ideas were not accepted, as that those 
who officially devoted themselves to educational 
interests did not think it worth while to refute 

284 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

them; but treated them with complete indiffer- 
ence." 



In discussing methods of teaching Tolstoy laid 
down three principles as fundamental: "The 
teacher is always involuntarily led to teach in 
the manner of teaching most convenient to him- 
self. The more convenient this method is to the 
teacher, the less convenient it is to the pupils. 
The only good method is that which satisfies the 
pupils." 

What had always particularly troubled him and 
occupied his attention was the best method of 
teaching children to read. He asked me much 
about new methods in use in America, and at his 
request I was able to procure for him — I think 
through the kindness of Mr. Garrison of the Nation 
— a good selection of American Primers and Ele- 
mentary Readers. In one of these I remember the 
pronunciation of the different sounds of the vowels 
and of certain consonants was represented to the 
eye by a character similar in general shape to the 
ordinary letter, but with special distinctive changes 
which at once caught the eye. These books 
proved of some use to Tolstoy in the preparation 
of his Primer or ABC, on which he spent much 

time, but the publication or use of which in schools 

285 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

was forbidden by the Minister of Public Instruc- 
tion. 

Tolstoy did not approve of examinations, nor 
even of individual recitations, at least for Russian 
peasant children. He seemed to prefer something 
akin to what is the Arabic, and in general the 
Eastern method, of all the pupils reciting together. 
His efforts in instruction in history and geography 
were on the whole failures. What little success he 
had came from using the Manuals of Peter Parley, 
translated into Russian fifty years ago; by telling 
stories, and by appeals to the Russian patriotic 
feeling, which was quickly on the alert; " so that," 
he said, "as a general rule I see no necessity of 
teaching history or geography to a boy before he 
goes to the University; and I do see great harm in 
it. After that I don't know." The one exception 
that he made was for biblical history and the Bible 
in general, especially the Old Testament. One of 
the most interesting portions of his report is the 
passage about the Bible, of which I cannot forbear 
quoting the conclusion : 

" In order for a pupil to give himself up entirely 
to his teacher, it is necessary to raise a corner of 
that veil which hides from him all the enchantment 
of that world of thought, knowledge, and poetry, 
to which his studies are to introduce him. . . . 

286 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

What means have we for raising this veil? I 
thought of many things. But as I was myself in 
that world to which I wished to introduce my 
pupils, nothing seemed to be easier, and I taught 
them to read; I explained the phenomena of nature; 
I used to tell them what was written in the Primers, 
that ' the fruits of knowledge are sweet ; ' but they 
did not believe me, and even drew off. I then tried 
reading the Bible to them, and took complete pos- 
session of them. The edge of the veil was lifted, 
and they quite gave themselves up to me. They 
grew to love the book, love study, and love me. 
All that I had to do was to guide them fur- 
ther. . . . Perhaps this was accident; perhaps 
in another school the same results may be reached 
by beginning in a different way. Perhaps. But 
this accident is repeated too invariably in all schools 
and in all families, and its explanation is too clear 
to me for me to admit that it is a chance. For the 
purpose of opening a new world to a pupil, and of 
making him love knowledge before he has knowl- 
edge, there is no book like the Bible. I speak even 
for those who do not regard the Bible as Revela- 
tion. No; at least, I do not know of a production 
which unites to the same extent as the Bible, in so 
condensed a poetic form, all the sides of human 
thought. All questions of natural phenomena are 
explained by this book. All the primitive relations 
of men to each other — families, states, religions, are 
for the first time recognised in this book. Gener- 
alisation of ideas, wisdom in a simple childlike 

287 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

form, enchants the pupil's mind for the first time. 
The lyrical qualities of the Psalms of David affect 
the minds of children as well as adults; and for the 
first time, in the Bible, everyone learns the charm 
of the Epic in its inimitable simplicity and force. 
Who has not wept over the history of Joseph and 
of his meeting with his brothers? Who has ever 
told without terror in his heart the story of the 
chained and shorn Samson, who, in order to re- 
venge himself on his enemies, buried himself under 
the ruins of the Palace? And still hundreds of 
other impressions which have nourished us like our 
mother's milk. Let those who deny the educa- 
tional signification of the Bible, and who say that 
the Bible has outlived its time — let them compose 
such a book, such stories which explain the phe- 
nomena of nature, either drawn from general his- 
tory or from their own imagination, which will be 
accepted as the Bible stories are — and then we will 
admit that the Bible has outlived its time. . . . 
I repeat my conviction, which may perhaps be 
drawn from an exceptional experience, that with- 
out this Bible in our society the development of 
the child or of the man would be as impossible 
as it would have been in Greek society without 
Homer. . . . The publication of a translation 
of the Bible in the simple language used by the 
peasants would form an epoch in the history of the 
Russian people." 



288 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

In another place, speaking of the way in which 
children love to learn, and how their feelings grad- 
ually affected their families, he writes : " A father 
once told me that he burned up a whole candle 
while holding it in his fingers before his son's 
book, and he praised greatly both his son and the 
book. It was the Gospel." 

In his educational writings, most of them as old 
as 1862, there is an occasional paragraph that fore- 
shadows the later phase of Count Tolstoy; and in 
an article written as late as 1885 he avows his ad- 
herence to all that he had said earlier. Such are, 
among others: " Perhaps the people do not under- 
stand, and do not wish to understand, our literary 
language, because there is nothing in it for them 
to understand; and because all our literature has no 
meaning to them and they must create their own 
literature." Again, in discussing the question 
whether peasants should be taught Art, he says: 
" Every child of the people has the same rights — 
even greater rights — to the enjoyments of Art as we 
who belong to a privileged class; we who are not 
weighed upon by the necessity of constant hard 
labour; we who are surrounded by all the comforts 
of life. To deprive them of the enjoyment of Art, 
to deprive me, the teacher, of the right to introduce 
them into the domain of the highest pleasures, 

Vol. I.— 19 289 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

which they are begging for with all the powers of 
their being, would be an immense absurdity." And 
again : " I have arrived at this conviction, that all 
that we have done in poetry and music is false, 
exclusive, without meaning and without future, 
and insignificant in comparison with the needs and 
even with the productions of these arts of which 
we find specimens among the people. I am con- 
vinced that a lyric of Pushkin or the last Symphony 
of Beethoven is not as unconditionally and uni- 
versally good as the song about ' Vanka the Cel- 
larer,' or the air, 'Down along Mother Volga;' 
that Pushkin and Beethoven please us not because 
they express absolute beauty, but because we are 
as depraved as they, and because they only flatter 
our abnormal irritability and our weakness." 



VII 

When I had been just a week at Yasnaya Pol- 
yana I happened in the course of the evening to 
speak of my journey down the Volga, and told of 
my call at Kazan on General Yushkof, Count Tol- 
stoy's uncle, to whom he had kindly given me a 
letter. The old man had been in the campaign of 
1 812, when he was even already a general, though 

young; and the Count had told me that I might 

290 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

perhaps get out of him some stories about the 
battle of Borodino, the retreat of the French, and 
how Moscow looked after the great fire. He had 
apparently utilised some of these for " War and 
Peace." I explained, therefore, why I had heard 
nothing of the kind. I had been admitted at 
Kazan into a very good and comfortable house, 
and had presented my card and letter of introduc- 
tion to the servant, who came back and begged me 
to wait a little. While waiting I noticed that the 
letter, still sealed, had been placed on a chair. At 
last the General came in, old but vigorous, and 
with an expression of great kindliness and sym- 
pathy. He asked me to sit down, sat down him- 
self, and after a few words: " You brought me, I 
think, a letter from my nephew Leo? Where is 
it?" 

" I believe you are sitting upon it," I replied. 
He got up, found the letter, and handing it to me 
said: " Will you kindly read it to me. I am totally 
blind." The situation was awkward, but there was 
no help for it; although the letter was so flatter- 
ing and affectionate towards me that I felt com- 
pelled to skip a whole paragraph. I regret now 
that, instead of giving it back to the old man, I 
did not put it into my pocket and preserve it as a 

souvenir. There were two grand pianos in the 

291 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

other room, and in answer to some question the 
General said that he had always been passionately- 
fond of music, that he had brought up all his chil- 
dren to play and sing, but that now that he was 
old and blind they would go off to St. Petersburg 
during the winter and leave him all alone. Gradu- 
ally I persuaded him to play from memory some- 
thing from Beethoven and Mozart; then we went 
out into the garden and sat in the sun, and in the 
two hours that he kept me he told me much that 
was interesting, but not what I wanted. 

About four o'clock the next morning, after tell- 
ing this adventure, I was awakened by hearing 
someone fumbling along the passage, when sud- 
denly my bedroom door opened, and thinking that 
for some inexplicable reason the servant had come 
to wake me, I called out, " What's the matter? " 
The door closed and I heard a voice say in French: 
" Hit, there's a man in my bed; a man! " The door 
again opened and a gentleman appeared with a 
candle, and asked " Seryozha, is that you? " " No," 
I replied, "hma guest of the house." He laughed, 
begged pardon, and went away; and my senses 
were then sharp enough to hear the arrangement 
made that she would go up to the drawing-room 
and sleep on the sofa till the family were up; while 

he could lie down on the divan in the Count's study. 

292 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

I immediately conjectured what turned out to be 
the true state of the case. I was occupying the 
room of Madame Yushkof, the Count's aunt, and 
had been invited to stay till her arrival, about a 
week hence. She had suddenly returned without 
giving notice, and had brought a friend with her. 
As the doors of Russian country-houses are very 
rarely locked at night, they had come in without, 
as it happened, awaking anyone in the house but 
myself. 

I ascertained the truth when Ivan brought me 
my morning tea, and I immediately packed up so 
as to be in readiness to depart the same day. 
When I went upstairs for the eleven o'clock coffee, 
I chanced to find Madame Yushkof alone in the 
drawing-room and was obliged to introduce my- 
self. She had evidently been told — probably in 
explaining who I was — my story of the night be- 
fore, for she smiled and said: " So, you were in 
Kazan last spring and saw my husband, who told 
you that he was stone blind. I assure you that 
there is not a word of truth in it. He sees as well 
as you or I do. It is merely one of his notions to 
make himself appear interesting." I asseverated 
my belief that he really was blind, but could not 
convince her. Count Tolstoy afterwards told me 
that, although they were on perfectly friendly terms, 

293 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

she had long been separated from her husband, and 
had not seen him for years. I felt sure that at least 
he had not seen her. 

The morning was dark and rainy, but the sun 
came out afterwards, and the strange gentleman, 
who turned out to be an old family friend with 
whom Madame Yushkof had been staying, drove 
with me to Tula. Although we exchanged occa- 
sional letters, Count Tolstoy did not come again to 
Moscow during my stay there, so that this was the 
last time I saw him. 



Postscript. 

Judging from the past there has never seemed 
to me any reason to believe that the present phase 
of mystical religious enthusiasm, through which 
Count Tolstoy is now passing, would last for the 
whole of his life; or that he is permanently lost to 
literature. Most of the foreign visitors to him, 
who have published their impressions, were more 
interested in his social and religious theories than 
in Russian literature. It is pleasant, therefore, to 
find from the account of the novelist, G. P. Dani- 
lefsky, of his visit to Yasnaya Polyana in the au- 
tumn of 1886, that Count Tolstoy is not so different 

after all from what he once was; and that to an old 

294 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

friend he is willing to show the interest in art and 
literature which still possesses him. 
Some passages may well be quoted: 

" My conversation with the Count about the 
past and present was interrupted by a large, hand- 
some setter, running in and lying down at his feet. 
' Is that Laska? ' I asked, thinking of ' Anna Ka- 
renin.' ' No; she died long ago. This is my eldest 
son's sporting dog.' ' And do you shoot now? ' 
' No; I gave it up long ago; although I walk about 
the neighbouring fields and woods every day. . . . 
What a delight it is to repose from intellectual 
occupations by means of simple physical labour. 
Every day, according to the season, I either dig 
the ground, or saw and chop wood, or work with 
scythe, sickle, or some other instrument.' I could 
not help thinking of the box of shoemaker's tools 
in the window of the Count's reception-room. 

" ' And ploughing,' the Count continued, ' you 
cannot conceive what a satisfaction it is to plough. 
It is not very hard work, as it seems to many; it 
is pure enjoyment. You go along lifting up and 
properly directing the plough, and you don't notice 
how one, two, and three hours have gone by. The 
blood runs merrily through your veins; your head 
becomes clear; you don't feel the weight of your 
feet. But the appetite afterwards, and the sleep! 
If you don't feel tired wouldn't you like to take a 
walk before dinner and look for mushrooms? It 

295 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

has rained lately, and there must be some good 
white mushrooms.' " 

This little walk lasted for three hours and a half, 
and led them a course of five or six miles, through 
the orchards planted by the Count, over hill and 
dale, through woods and meadows; and past those 
plantations of trees which I had seen in their in- 
fancy, but which now are thick woods and realise 
the prophecy of the Count with regard to their 
value. All this time the Count talked with sym- 
pathy and interest of art, of Russian literature, and 
of its best representatives. Speaking of popular 
literature, Tolstoy said : 

" More than thirty years ago, when some of 
our present writers — and I among them — had 
just begun to work, among the hundred millions 
of the Russian Empire, the number of readers 
could be counted by tens of thousands. Now, 
since the multiplication of schools, they can prob- 
ably be counted by millions; and these millions 
of Russian readers stand before us like hungry 
little jackdaws with wide open mouths, and say 
to us : ' Gentlemen, writers of our own land, throw 
into our mouths some intellectual food which is 
worthy of you and of us. Write for us, who 
thirst for the living literature, save us from those 
chap-books of " Yeruslam-Lazarevitch," " Milord 
George," and the like food to be found at the 

296 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

fairs.' The simple and honourable Russian peo- 
ple is worthy of our answering this call of their 
good and upright soul. I have thought much 
about it, and have decided to make essay on this 
ground according to the measure of my strength." 

"....' How warm it is, and how the air smells 
of leaves,' he said, approaching an old half-ruined 
bridge over a little narrow stream. ' The force of 
immediate impressions from nature is wonderful. 
How I love and prize artists who draw all their in- 
spirations from that mighty and eternal source! 
In it is the only force and truth.' 

" We talked about various artistic methods in 
literature, painting, and music. ' Not long ago I 
happened to read a book,' said Tolstoy, stopping 
before the planks thrown over the stream, ' the 
verses of a dead young Spanish poet. Besides the 
remarkable talent of this writer the account of his 
life greatly interested me. His biographer quotes 
a story told of him by his old nurse. She had no- 
ticed, with apprehension, that he often passed whole 
nights without sleep, would sigh and pronounce 
aloud some sort of words, would go out into the 
fields and villages by moonlight and stay there 
whole hours. One night she even thought he had 
gone out of his mind; for he got up, dressed in the 
dark and went out to a neighbouring well. The 
nurse, who followed him, saw how he drew a bucket 
of water and began to pour it slowly on the ground; 
then drew another and poured that out too. " Poor 
fellow, you've lost your wits," she said. But not at 

297 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

all. The young man was doing that for the pur- 
pose of hearing and seeing the more carefully 
how streamlets of water fall and splash in the 
moonlight on a quiet night. The experience was 
necessary for his new poem. In that case he was 
confirming his recollections, and the poetic im- 
pressions which they prompted, by nature itself; 
just as painters are obliged sometimes to have 
recourse to mannikins which they place in the re- 
quired positions, and cover with the proper cloth- 
ing. In reading our own and foreign writers I 
involuntarily feel who is true to nature and borrows 
from her, and who is false. There are some books 
whose falsity is at once so evident that I cannot 
get beyond the first page, and not even threats of 
corporal punishment would induce me to read them. 
. . .' Tolstoy would have been willing to walk 
further, but the Countess arrived from Tula with 
a bundle of proof-sheets, and it was dinner-time. 
' You are not tired? ' said Tolstoy, as he gaily and 
lightly went up the staircase; ' for me daily exer- 
cise and physical labour are as indispensable as the 
air. In summer in the country as to this I have 
full choice. I can plough or cut grass. In the 
autumn in rainy weather it is wretched. In the 
country there are no sidewalks or pavements, 
and when it rains I cobble and make shoes. In 
town, too, I am bored by simple walking, and 
one cannot plough or mow there; so I saw and 
split wood. Sedentary intellectual work, without 
physical exercise and labour is a real calamity. 

298 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 

If for even a single day I do not walk or work 
with my legs or hands, I am good for nothing by 
evening. I can't read or write, or even listen to 
anyone with attention; my head turns; there seem 
to be stars in my eyes and I have a sleepless 
night.' " 

Danilefsky concludes as follows: 

" Count Leo Tolstoy, after this new meeting of 
ours, remains in my thoughts the same great and 
mighty artist that Russia knew and knows. He is 
in perfect health, vigorous, in full possession of all 
his artistic force; and, without any doubt, is still 
able to enrich his country with more than one pro- 
duction similar to ' War and Peace ' and ' Anna 
Karenin.' I say even more. Just as his quiet life 
and interruption of work after ' Childhood and Boy- 
hood ' and the ' Sevastopol Sketches,' when he was 
busy with questions of pedagogy, and published 
the Ydsnaya Poly ana school journal, was not apathy 
nor weakening of his artistic strength, but only an 
involuntary repose or breathing time — during which 
there ripened in his mind the ideas of ' War and 
Peace ' — so now, when Count Tolstoy, after study- 
ing in the originals the ' Old and New Testaments ' 
and ' Lives of Saints,' consecrates his leisure to 
tales for the people, he is evidently only preparing 
himself for new and great artistic productions; and 
his present state of mind is only a new step, only 
a nearer approach to other still higher stages of his 
creative power." 

299 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR OF 
A SERBIAN KING 

A CONSULAR EXPERIENCE 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR OF 
A SERBIAN KING 

A CONSULAR EXPERIENCE 

On one of my visits to Belgrade I happened to 
hear some vague rumours about an unfortunate 
American who had been seeking for treasure in 
several of the ruined old castles of Serbia. I heard 
enough to interest me deeply, and seized the first 
occasion for obtaining accurate information. What 
I am now about to tell was chiefly derived from 
Mr. Miyatovitch, afterwards Minister of Foreign 
Affairs, but at that time Minister of Finance. He 
was kind enough to give me not only all the details 
he knew, but copies of certain papers in his pos- 
session, and to note down for me the most impor- 
tant points. It is more convenient, however, to ex- 
press myself in my own words and in my own way, 
though many of the expressions which I heard still 
cling to me. 

In July, 1875, a man, evidently a foreigner, came 
303 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR 

to the Ministry of Finance at Belgrade. When he 
obtained an interview with the Minister, and was 
asked why he came to Serbia, and why especially 
he wished to see the Minister of Finance, he said — 
in a strange German-English dialect — that he was 
a citizen of the United States, and owned a farm in 
Minnesota which he worked with his children; but 
that he was unfit for hard work, as he had served 
in the war as a private, had been wounded, and was 
then receiving a pension of six dollars a month. 
The first impression which he produced on the 
Minister — and the Minister had the pardonable 
weakness of trusting to first impressions — was a 
favourable one. He was a man apparently of be- 
tween fifty-five and sixty years old, of middle size 
and well built, with a fine head and face. His 
forehead was high; his bluish-grey eyes expressed 
goodness and gentleness as well as a strong will; 
his nose was well proportioned and well formed; his 
thick brown beard was slightly sprinkled with grey. 
He was poorly but neatly dressed, and had all the 
air of an earnest, sober man, accustomed to earn 
his own living. On being asked again what had 
brought him to Serbia and what he wanted, he pre- 
sented his American papers, began to smile, and 
said : " You will laugh at me, and perhaps pity me, 
and think me an old fool; but the reason that I 

304 



OF A SERBIAN KING 

have come out here all the way from Minnesota is 
to search quite alone for what was left to me by 
my ancestors." There was nothing extraordinary 
in the request for permission to seek for hidden 
treasure. Such permissions are often asked for; 
sometimes as many as twenty or thirty in a year: 
and once in a while there seems to be an epidemic 
of the sort in different districts. But the Minister 
was surprised that so old a man, who seemed so 
sensible and modest, should abandon his family and 
his country and come as far as Serbia with the sole 
object of hunting for a treasure. Then, as on many 
subsequent occasions, the Minister tried to dis- 
suade him, and to prove the uselessness of his work. 
But all was in vain. " No, no, dear sir," he said, 
" the treasure is still buried in the ground, or there 
would be something of it in the European muse- 
ums: I have been in many places in Europe and 
have never seen anything like it, and therefore I 
am sure of my enterprise, as I am searching ac- 
cording to my documents." He then said that he 
was of Serbian origin; that his name was August 
Boyne de Lazar; that he was born in Chemnitz in 
Saxony in 1818; and that after the Revolution in 
1848, in which he was implicated, he had emi- 
grated to the United States. He claimed to be 
descended from a family closely related to that of 
Vol. I.— 20 3°5 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR 

Prince Lazar; which was once so rich and powerful 
that it owned Sokol, Shabatz, and other towns in 
the Shumadia — that wonderful forest-country, even 
the name of which is derived from a word express- 
ing the rustling of the leaves. When he said this, 
the Minister, who is well versed in history, remem- 
bered an old tradition that the Obilitch family had 
owned property in this region; and he advised the 
American, if he searched at all, to confine himself 
to the delta between the Sava and the Drina, where 
these towns are situated. Boyne knew the name 
of Obilitch, but nothing of the connection of that 
family with King Lazar, and had never heard of 
the hero Milosh. 

In order thoroughly to understand the circum- 
stances, it is necessary to make here a slight his- 
torical digression. The literature of Serbia is rich 
in ballads of an epic character. These were among 
the earliest Slavonic ballads collected, and were of 
great interest, especially to German scholars, as 
throwing light on the possible composition of the 
Homeric poems. One great cycle of these ballads 
is concerned with the battle of Kossovo, where on 
Vidovdan (St. Vitus's Day), June 15, 1389, the 
Serbian King Lazar was defeated by the Turks, 
and Serbian independence was lost for nearly five 
centuries. This defeat was rendered decisive by 

306 



OF A SERBIAN KING 

the defection of Vuk Brankovitch, one of the sons- 
in-law of Lazar, who, believing the day lost, went 
over to the Turks. Vuk had had a personal quar- 
rel with another son-in-law of Lazar, Milosh Obi- 
litch. At a banquet which Lazar gave the night 
before the grand battle he brought out a great gold 
goblet and drank to the health of Milosh, taunting 
him with his disloyalty. The latter accepted the 
toast, finished the cup, and strode out of the tent 
in a fury; swearing that he would show if it were 
he who could be disloyal. With one of his friends 
he rode into the Turkish camp straight to the tent 
of the Sultan Murad I. (Amurath) and demanded 
an audience. On the advice of the Vizier, Murad, 
instead of giving his hand to be kissed, offered his 
foot, which Milosh seized, pulled him to the 
ground, and stabbed him in the belly. After kill- 
ing the two Viziers he mounted his horse and rode 
away with his companions, pursued by the Turks, 
but leaving a broad swath of death as they gal- 
loped through the camp. The other two were 
killed and Milosh was captured. The Sultan did 
not die on the spot, but was so grievously wounded 
that his son Bayazed (Bajazet), the same who was 
afterward captured by Tamerlane and kept in a 
cage, fought the battle in his stead. King Lazar 
was taken prisoner, and both he and Milosh Obi- 

307 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR 

litch were brought to the dying Murad for his 
orders. The Sultan ordered them to be executed, 
and commanded that Milosh Obilitch should be 
buried by his side and King Lazar at his feet; to 
show that all Christians were rayahs or subjects. 
Milosh spoke up and said: 

' ' Thou art dying ! I also am death-doomed. 
I beseech thee, O Murad, great Sultan ! 
Let not thus our dead bodies be buried, 
Let the two Tsars lie in death side by side ! 
Let me lie at the feet of Tsar Lazar ! 
His true knight was I ever in this world ; 
His true vassal I would be in that one ! " 

It is said that Murad, struck with the bravery and 
fidelity of Milosh, granted his petition. 

Milosh is the hero from whom the treasure- 
seeker was apparently descended. The proofs of 
this descent are very curious. 

When August Boyne left Saxony to go to Amer- 
ica his father gave him some papers and docu- 
ments, a small Bible containing notes, and told him 
all that he had heard from his own father and could 
remember about the family history. Long after- 
wards, when Boyne was ill in a hospital at Chicago, 
this Bible was stolen from him; it was recovered, 
but — portions of the notes having been apparently 
purposely cut out — in a mutilated condition. In 

308 



OF A SERBIAN KING 

order to guard against further loss, copies were 
made of all that remained, which were duly certi- 
fied and attested by the proper judicial and notarial 
authorities. Among the papers shown to the Ser- 
bian Minister was one " the validity of which 
was proved by many signatures and legalised by 
American authorities. [I give here the Minister's 
exact words.] It was said therein that the docu- 
ment consisted of four leaves; but only two came 
into my hands. The other two had either been lost 
by Boyne, or had been stolen from him." This 
professed to be written by Andria Obilitch, the 
great-grandfather of August Boyne. It was in 
German and ran as follows: 

"Brandenburg, May i, 1759. 
"My Dear Son Frederic de Lazar: I hand 
over to thee my last Will and Testament relating 
to our family matters, which I know from my par- 
ents in Serbia. I could never go there myself, for I 
was so long in the military service; and afterwards 
was too ill and old. Other secret things and mat- 
ters I will tell thee orally. But here it seems nec- 
essary and important to describe the days of my 
youth and my experience. My father was a Prince 
of Serbia. I was born in the year 1697 in a castle 
in the Shumadia; and was brought up in the castle 
of Shabatz on the River Sava. In the year 1704 
there was great excitement and commotion in con- 

309 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR 

sequence of the Turkish tyranny; and there were 
disasters without precedent. 

" One night, when the reflection of burning 
houses reddened all our windows, I woke up daz- 
zled by the bright light of the conflagration; and 
was seized by the hand of a faithful servant. ' Get 
up, Andria,' he cried to me, ' we have no time to 
lose; the long-beards are near.' The long-beards 
were the Turks — so we called them. I was always 
afraid of them — they were terrible, and came often 
to our town to kill and plunder, and I rose instantly. 
The servant took me in his arms. I heard fearful 
noises everywhere about me. My mother came 
into the room very much agitated and excited, and 
wished to see me. At the same moment we heard 
the firing of muskets quite close to us. One of the 
doors was burst open; smoke and sparks flew all 
about us, and a gang of fierce-looking Turks 
rushed into the room. They swung around their 
heads their swords, which glittered like reddish 
flame, and, shouting terribly, threatened to kill and 
massacre all of us. The servant, in his fright, let 
me fall to the ground; and I rolled under some fur- 
niture and crept off as far as I could get. But I 
could see how he fell a victim to his fidelity, in the 
attempt to save me, by the cruel hands of the 
Turks. I could also see — oh, horror — how they 
caught my mother, how they took her by the hair 
and cut her to pieces. When this was done they 
left the place. This bloody scene remained deeply 
engraved on my mind; so that even now, after 

310 



OF A SERBIAN KING 

many years, I see these horrible details again en- 
acted. I remained alive among the dead; but felt, 
after a while, that I was taken up and carried into 
the street. They washed my face, which was 
covered with blood, put me on a cart, and off we 
went in great haste, as fast as the horses could run. 
We saw all round us villages in a blaze, and peo- 
ple and cattle running in all directions. From 
time to time we met many carts, and people laden 
with their property, going along our road to the 
Shumadia forest. When we reached the forest we 
were warmly received, with joyful acclamations. 
They took me down from the cart, and passed me 
about from one to another. All were surprised 
that I had survived, and covered me with kisses. 
My man — the same who brought me here — took 
me into his arms, carried me into a tent, and told 
me to lie down and rest. He told me that his 
name was Yefrem Nadustratz (one who has lost all 
hope), that he was a servant of our family, and that 
he had saved me out of gratitude to my father, his 
master. The people called me Andria Obilitch. 
They afterwards built houses and shelters, and my 
servant and preserver also built a house. He was 
clever in healing horses, and lived well, and I often 
travelled about with him. When I was about 
twelve years old, I went with him to Sokol; and as 
we came back, he said : ' We will pass now on the 
Belgrade road, so that you may see where your 
father lived. Do you see yonder that half-ruined 
tower, and the ruins of buildings? ' ' Yes, I see.' 

3ii 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR 

' That was where your father Lazar lived. He was 
a prince of the Serbian land, and a famous and 
highly esteemed lord. All of your family were 
greatly respected. But they were all killed by the 
Turks, who carried off great treasures. You are 
now the only surviving member of your famous 
race. I saved you when Shabatz was burned. 
The Shumadia Castle alone remains in the posses- 
sion of your family; but, you see, it is worth noth- 
ing now. The Turks killed every living soul, and 
burned down all the villages, and it will be worth 
nothing during your lifetime.' " 

The castle of Sokol is now a picturesque ruin — 
like so many others in Serbia — which gives a great 
idea of the power and wealth of its former owners. 
The general effect of all of them is occidental 
rather than oriental. The old nobility of Serbia, 
as well as of Bulgaria and Greece, were either ex- 
terminated by the Turks, or reduced to peasantry 
by being stripped of their lands. In Bosnia, on the 
other hand, the nobles saved their estates by turn- 
ing Mohammedan. They are still fanatical Mus- 
sulmans; but they speak Serbian and rarely Turk- 
ish, retain their family names, and use coats of 
arms. 

The remaining part of the story was on the miss- 
ing sheets, and has to be filled in from the family 
traditions told by August Boyne to the Minister. 

312 



OF A SERBIAN KING 

There was, however, a copy of the notes from the 
old Bible, about the descendants of Andria Obi- 
litch; by which it may be seen that one of his sons, 
Frederic, was born in Brandenburg on May 7, 
1744; that Frederic's son, John, was born on June 
12, 1784; and that John's son August — the man in 
question — was born in Chemnitz on August 5, 
1818. 

The accuracy of names in this document and its 
general air of historic truth make it curious and in- 
teresting. Mr. Miyatovitch believes it genuine, 
and has published it as throwing light on the popu- 
lar rising against the Turks in 1704. One might, 
perhaps, account for the character of the story by 
supposing it to be a romance invented by some 
soldier who had served in the army of Prince 
Eugene, when he besieged and took Belgrade, in 
1717. This, however, could not be the case if we 
are to accept the family history as handed down 
and related by Boyne. 

According to the oral account Andria lived in 
this way for some time longer; until Yefrem, feel- 
ing himself infirm, said to the boy : " I shall die 
soon, and you will be left alone to live as you can. 
If it is possible, escape across the river away from 
the Turks, so that your life may be preserved; and 
perhaps your descendants may some time come 

313 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR 

back, and get again the lands and property of your 
family." Later on Yefrem, after swearing the boy 
solemnly to secrecy, took him to the ruined castle; 
made him observe carefully, and try to remember 
certain signs and landmarks; and finally led him 
through subterranean passages of great length into 
a vaulted room, where the goods and treasures of 
Andria's father were heaped up. There were, he 
said, many splendidly ornamented oriental arms, 
and weapons of excellent workmanship, books and 
documents, deeds and diplomas, rich drinking- 
cups, and many utensils of gold and silver, mosaics 
and enamelled trinkets, medals and money, and 
strong chests full of valuables. It was impossible 
to take anything away, from fear of the Turks. 
Besides this, Yefrem felt that it was a solemn trust 
which he had no right to deliver up to the boy. 
He allowed him, however, to take one ancient coin 
in order to impress the secret on his mind. 

Soon after this — it must have been about the 
time that the Austrians were besieging Belgrade — 
Yefrem found a means of escaping from the coun- 
try with Andria; and in search of some honest 
and honourable employment they made their way 
through the Slavonic-speaking countries to Silesia. 
Yefrem died, and Andria took service with a great 
landed proprietor. Here he fell in love with a 

3H 



OF A SERBIAN KING 

pretty peasant-girl, who was born on the estate, 
and was consequently the serf of the lord of the 
manor. For that, or for some other reason, he 
was not allowed to marry her; but he gave her the 
old coin which he had brought from the vault and 
had carefully kept. One day the lord, his master, 
played cards with a German baron, and, among 
other stakes, lost the girl who was Andria's sweet- 
heart. Andria, in a frenzy of anger and despair, 
tried to kill the baron; but, mistaking the man, 
killed one of his attendants. For this he was 
obliged to run away and hide himself; and, meet- 
ing some recruiting sergeant, he was enlisted in the 
body-guard of the King of Prussia. He was then 
about twenty-two years old. One day, many years 
after, when there was a festivity at court, and 
Andria was on guard at the door of the ball-room, 
a fine lady passed on the arm of a gentleman; and 
by some accident dropped her bracelet. Andria 
picked it up, and even in its setting of jewels recog- 
nized the coin; then, raising his eyes as much as he 
dared, he recognized the girl he had once loved. 
She had married, it seems, an officer who had be- 
come a great general, and she was then a fine lady. 
The gentleman who was with her admired the coin, 
which seemed curious and rare, and had an inscrip- 
tion in an unknown language; and the King, send- 

3i5 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR 

ing for the director of his numismatic collection, 
asked him if such a piece existed in his cabinet. 
The director replied that he had recently bought 
a similar one at Venice. 

It must be remarked here that Venice had in 
the Middle Ages an active commerce with the 
whole Balkan Peninsula, and that the Venetian 
coins served as models for the old Serbian money. 
About all this August Boyne knew nothing, and 
when he first told the story to the Minister had 
never seen any old Serbian gold coins, which are 
extremely rare. 

As time went on Andria prospered; the King, 
who had taken a fancy to him, helped him; and he 
was able to build a house with the right to convert 
it into an inn. This he did when he had grown 
too old to be of use in active service; and, as 
he often told his guests stories about fights in Ser- 
bia, to which he gave the name of boyne or voyne 
(in Serbian boy or voy means a fight, and voyna 
war), they came to call the house the Boyne Inn — 
Gasthaus zum Boyne — and he and his descendants 
adopted it as a surname. The de Lazar was evi- 
dently an attempt at translating Lazarevitch, the 
son of Lazar, the patronymic which Andria had 
from his father — Andria Lazarevitch Obilitch — 
and had nothing to do with the old King Lazar. 

316 



OF A SERBIAN KING 

About the life of Andria's son and grandson I 
know nothing, nor why one of them went to Sax- 
ony; nor did the Minister remember that August 
Boyne had told him anything in particular about 
his life up to the age of thirty, when he emigrated 
to America. I must return to his appearance in 
Belgrade. 

As I have said, the Minister at first tried to dis- 
suade Boyne from what he considered a useless and 
absurd undertaking; and, when he found this of no 
avail, advised him to search especially near Shabatz 
and in that region; where he knew, as a historian, 
that the Obilitch family had possessed lands. 
Boyne spent a whole year in that part of the coun- 
try, and then began to explore the districts of 
Morava and Kraguyevatz. He occasionally re- 
turned to Belgrade; and the Minister, who had be- 
come more and more interested in him and had 
been greatly impressed by his straightforwardness, 
his earnestness, and his simple piety, assisted him 
from time to time with food, linen, clothes, and 
even money. Boyne had gradually learned a little 
Serbian, and wherever he went tried to do good to 
the people about him; leaving a most favourable 
opinion of him on all with whom he had to do. 
What particularly struck my friend the Minister 
was that he generally prayed aloud, and that his 

317 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR 

prayers were extemporised, and suited to particular 
circumstances. " I was deeply touched," the Min- 
ister said, " when he prayed for Serbia, the Prince, 
the whole Serbian nation; and specially for the 
children of this nation who frequent the schools, 
upon whom he implored the Almighty's blessing. 
At the time when he asked for the concession, and 
permission to search for the treasure, he said that 
he would spend it entirely on the construction of a 
Serbian railway, and that he would not carry out 
of the country a single farthing. But later he 
changed his mind and said : ' It is nearly two years 
that I live in this country among the Serbians; and 
I see that the nation is not pious and has forgotten 
God and His goodness to men : and so, if I find my 
treasure, I wish with the money to build many good 
schools to teach children the fear of the Lord, and 
to educate them in the love of their neighbours.' " 
In May, 1876, Boyne was full of hope, and said 
that he had found certain signs on an old ruined 
castle not far from Kraguyevatz. He came again 
to Belgrade in June during a period of great heat, 
on foot and utterly destitute; and was almost im- 
mediately taken ill. The Minister was absent at 
the time; but a lady went to see him in the wretched 
cottage where he had found a lodging, and provid- 
ed him with linen and other necessaries. This 

3i8 



OF A SERBIAN KING 

friend on a later visit found that everything had 
been stolen from him in the weak state in which he 
was; and therefore had him transferred to the hos- 
pital. He was accompanied at this time by an ill- 
looking man, whose acquaintance he had some- 
where made, and whom he had engaged to help 
him in his work. When the Minister returned to 
Belgrade he went to see poor Boyne, and found 
him dying. He expired on the morning of August 
3, 1876, and was buried among the poor in the 
highest spot of the cemetery of Belgrade, whence 
there is a lovely view over the Danube. The body 
of this unknown and friendless American, the pos- 
sible descendant — and the last — of the hero King 
Lazar, was followed to the grave by one mourner 
only — the Serbian Prime Minister. The face of 
the poor man after death took on such a Serbian 
type that the Minister took the trouble of having 
him photographed. His death was doubtless due 
to fever brought on by overwork and exhaustion; 
but the lady, with whom I have talked, felt sure 
that he had been poisoned. What supported her 
in this theory was that the man whom he had taken 
as his assistant had disappeared; carrying with him 
most of the papers, notes, and the various small 
objects that belonged to him. 

Seven or eight years after this I met in Athens 
319 



THE MINNESOTA HEIR 

Mr. Arthur J. Evans, now keeper of the Ashmolean 
Museum at Oxford, with his wife — a daughter of 
Mr. E. A. Freeman, the historian — who had come 
from a journey in Macedonia. At Prishtina, or 
somewhere near there, Mr. Evans had bought some 
fine old Serbian gold coins from a man who, al- 
though he seemed to have a large quantity of them, 
would only show them one by one, behaved very 
mysteriously and suspiciously, and then disap- 
peared. Some of these coins were unique; of 
others only one or two specimens were known to 
exist. I told him the story of poor August Boyne, 
and he agreed with me in thinking that possibly at 
least a part of the Obilitch treasure had been 
found. 



320 



THE LOST PLANT 



THE LOST PLANT 1 



That evening we were playing whist at the Gov- 
ernor's house, as we had the habit of doing two or 
three times a week. I had as partner my French 
colleague, M. Dorat, still a young man, who had 
arrived in the island as consul two or three months 
before. I had not seen very much of him, for it 
was the season of the year when we old fellows feel 
disinclined to much movement; with the excep- 
tion of an occasional outing in a boat, or on a don- 
key, I had confined myself chiefly to my books and 
my garden. With most of us our gardens were 
great sources of amusement and delight. There 
was always a pleasurable excitement when a new 
package of seeds arrived from Europe — for every- 
thing grew so well and fast; and many were the 
tin-boxes of bulbs and plants imported in the gen- 
erally vain hope that something new might possibly 
be found. No one was contented with the produc- 
tions of the island; we all wanted something dif- 

1 This story appeared in Scribner's Magazine under the nom de plume 
of John Pierson, and was the only fiction ever published by Mr. 
Schuyler. " The Minnesota Heir of a Serbian King " is a true story. 

323 



THE LOST PLANT 

ferent. Each had his own little fad, and mine was 
to reproduce, in this tropical country, an old-fash- 
ioned English garden, with its hollyhocks and lark- 
spurs, its columbines and daffodils, its lavender and 
rosemary and sweet-scented shrubs and herbs. Do- 
rat had not been there long enough, we thought, 
to catch the prevailing taste; his garden, which 
was large, and in the time of his predecessor had 
been very fine, was now neglected and had gone 
to waste; and if he occasionally put into it some 
wild plant which he had found, it was only for his 
experiments on the food and ways of life of the 
insects which he was always collecting and study- 
ing. He had also a pronounced taste for ornithol- 
ogy, and for natural history of every kind; and, in 
pursuit of specimens, accompanied by an old native 
whom he had somewhere picked up, made constant 
excursions — often for days at a time — into the 
swampy and little known interior of the island. 

Just behind my chair was standing a young 
English officer, named Furniss, apparently a family 
connection of the Governor — at all events, a mem- 
ber of his official and personal household — who had 
arrived by the last steamer. He was waiting for 
the end of the rubber to take a hand, and while the 
cards were being dealt was asking some questions 
about the methods of travelling, and announcing 

3 2 4 



THE LOST PLANT 

his intention of making some botanical excursions. 
One or two things struck me in what he said, and, 
looking over my shoulder, I jestingly remarked, 
" So you are going to look for Humtn's Sitnoea." 
As I turned back I intercepted such a look,, seem- 
ingly of hatred, from beneath the dark brows and 
lashes of my partner that I almost dropped the 
cards I was dealing. There was something which 
made me feel thoroughly uneasy. Furniss had 
started a topic to which my chance remark had 
given more interest; and, after we had begun to 
play, the conversation still went on behind my back. 
Although my partner kept control of his game, and 
made no mistakes, I could see that he was listen- 
ing to every word that Furniss said, and closely 
watching every movement that he made. I grew 
more and more nervous, till at last I could stand 
it no longer, and called out, rather abruptly, as 
others thought : " My dear Furniss, if you keep on 
looking at my cards and talking of botany at the 
same time I shall think each trick a new and rare 
species and shall lose all the points." Furniss, some- 
what offended at my tone, walked away from the 
table. 

When the rubber was over Dorat withdrew, by 
rights, and I refused to play longer, which was mis- 
interpreted by some of the party, as was also a 

325 



THE LOST PLANT 

whispered remark of mine to Furniss in passing, 
which was overheard by someone, that I would see 
him again later. I went into the other room, to a 
balcony overlooking the sea, and lighted a cigar, 
while reflecting on what course I ought to pursue. 
The fact is that a German botanist named Humm 
had discovered in this island a plant which pos- 
sessed singular curative virtues, used among the 
natives, but the existence of which they carefully 
concealed. Medically — as Humm had shown by 
experiments — it was as important as cinchona or 
condurango, or the more recently introduced coca. 
Humm had brought away a sufficient amount of the 
drug for it to be thoroughly tested in European 
laboratories and hospitals; but the plant had never 
been found again. One academy after another had 
offered prizes for its discovery, which in the aggre- 
gate then amounted to a large sum — a sum suffi- 
cient to encourage an enterprising man to encoun- 
ter great risks in its search. It was evident from 
what Furniss said that he had come out to look for 
it; hoping that his connections and his official posi- 
tion would enable him to conduct his explorations 
more easily and more thoroughly than those who 
had gone before him. Several had already visited 
the island for this purpose; but they had either fallen 
victims to the climate, or had given up the quest 

326 



THE LOST PLANT 

in despair, in consequence of the difficulties put in 
their way by the natives. It was equally plain to 
me, from his conduct at the card-table, that Dorat 
had come out for the same purpose; although he 
had so far concealed his plans and his interest in 
plants, in order to blind the eyes of the English. 
He had the advantage of being in better relations 
with the natives, because French prestige and 
French influence are persistent in any place which 
has once been under French rule; and the only 
foreign words which the natives used were also 
French. Although the English have held the isl- 
and for a long time they hold it simply as con- 
querors, and have never succeeded in identifying 
themselves with the people. 

I had not been smoking long before I was joined 
by Dorat, who was evidently looking for me. With 
great politeness and delicacy he offered me his ser- 
vices as to a colleague in difficulties; and, when 
he saw my look of astonishment, in answer to my 
questions told me that everybody believed that I 
was to have a duel with Furniss. English customs, 
we see — especially on such points — were not yet 
predominant in the island; and duels were not yet 
uncommon, although they were generally innocu- 
ous. I of course thanked him for his kindness, and 
promised to call on him if I stood in need of a 

327 



THE LOST PLANT 

friend; but explained that between an old, irritable 
fellow like myself, and a young man like Furniss, 
there would probably be no difficulty which could 
not be settled with an explanation, or, if need be, 
with an apology. The talk passed on to other 
things, when suddenly Dorat asked, " How did you 
come to mention the Simoea Hummiif " 

" Oh! " I said, " that is an old idea of mine; I 
thought of looking for it when I first came; so 
that I naturally suspect every fresh man of the same 
desire." 

" And you never did look for it? " 

" No, I was always naturally indolent; I broke 
my ankle a week after I arrived; that and the heat 
and malaria, and the bother of travelling in the in- 
terior have kept me quiet. But I have never lost 
a Platonic interest in it, and if you find it I shall 
congratulate you heartily." 

" But why should I look for it? " 

"In .the first place, my dear colleague, why 
should you mention it at all, if it were of no in- 
terest to you? And, secondly, you must know as 
well as I do that very large rewards are offered for 
finding it, with which will follow a wide scientific 
fame. Why shouldn't you find it? You are young 
and vigorous; being French, you have influence 
with the natives; you already, if I mistake not, 

328 



THE LOST PLANT 

speak something of their language; you make fre- 
quent shooting excursions into the interior; and 
you can perfectly well make botanical experiments 
in your neglected garden at the consulate. The 
spirit of old Hume would, I am sure, be delighted 
if you should carry out his beneficent intentions." 

"You call him Hume; do you mean Humm? " 

" Yes, the last was his German name ; but when 
he got naturalized in America he was so laughed 
at on account of his name that he changed it to 
Hume." 

" You knew him, then? " 

" Yes, I met him first when I was quite a boy, 
when I joined a scientific party to the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and, as I had been a comrade of Eaton and 
Brewer, was much interested in botany. We got 
to be very good friends then; but I had almost for- 
gotten about him until I met him again when I 
was vice-consul at Tripoli. He had come there to 
study assafoetida and laserpitium and other precious 
plants which the ancients obtained from that region. 
I was able to lodge him in my house, and we re- 
newed our old acquaintance; you know he died 
there, or, rather, in the interior; but he left me his 
papers, and — well, come and breakfast with me to- 
morrow, about twelve, and I will show you some- 
thing that will interest you." 

329 



THE LOST PLANT 

Throwing away the end of my cigar I went back 
to the drawing-room, and finally found Furniss — 
to whom I at once apologized for my brusque lan- 
guage — and asked him, if he did not mind my limp, 
to walk home with me, as I had something to tell 
him. He readily consented, and as soon as we 
could get away we walked down the quiet tree-lined 
street until we reached my garden. Then I per- 
suaded him to sit awhile with me in the veranda, 
where I knew that we could not be overheard. My 
faithful servant brought us out narghilehs, for this 
souvenir of my life in Asia and Africa still clings 
to me; the broad-leaved plants looked fantastic in 
the moonlight, and we were glad to neutralise the 
strong, heavy odours with the smoke of our pipes. 
The outlook on the garden gradually brought us 
to the subject of plants, and, after we had got 
warmed up on this topic, with the help of a glass 
or two of good old Madeira, I told him that I had 
overheard enough of his conversation to make me 
understand that he had come out expressly to find 
the lost plant. He frankly admitted his purpose, 
without the slightest hesitation; and gradually was 
led on to talk of his past life, of the influences which 
had moulded it, and of his hopes for the future. 

" Well," I said, " I will do all I can for you; and 
perhaps I can give you certain information which 

330 



THE LOST PLANT 

you do not possess. But I must be fair all round. 
Dorat is a colleague of mine, with whom I am on 
the best possible terms; and whatever information 
I give you I must give him." 

" Dorat," he said, " the French consul, who was 
your partner to-night? Has he come here, too, for 
this purpose? " 

" Yes; I never suspected it till this evening; now 
I know it. He is coming to tiffin with me to- 
morrow; and the best way to manage the thing 
will be for you to meet him. But, as I want a wit- 
ness or two, bring the Governor with you. I'll send 
him a little note early in the morning, and I will 
try to find one or two others also." 

" Oh, I think there will be no difficulty about 
that, as the Governor has already told me of 
your breakfasts; besides, to-morrow is Sunday, 
and he will have no engagements after church. 
But you're as solemn and mysterious as though 
some great event were impending. What is the 
matter? " 

" The matter, my dear fellow, is simply this, that 
you must entirely forget all that I tell you, and act 
entirely on your own judgment. Be on your guard 
against your rival. Never trust yourself alone with 
him, if you meet him in the interior. From what 
I saw to-night I believe him quite capable of kill- 

33i 



THE LOST PLANT 

ing you, if need be, to prevent your succeeding to 
his detriment." 

" Not so bad as that, I hope." 

" Not a word more ever on this subject. You 
know all that I fear. Take your own course. We 
shall see you to-morrow at noon." 



II 

Our breakfast was unusually pleasant, for I had 
succeeded in getting hold of M. Blancsube, one of 
the richest and most hospitable planters of the isl- 
and, a man universally liked for his wit and his good 
company, and respected for his intelligence and 
probity. The Governor was in better form than I 
had ever seen him, gave us amusing stories of his 
experiences in other colonies — and he seemed to 
have lived in some capacity in nearly every part 
of the globe — and by great good luck assisted me 
by appearing in an entirely new and unexpected 
character. Apropos of some of the fruit, he launched 
out in a discourse on the vegetable productions of 
the different places where he had been which would 
have done credit to Grant Duff himself. 

When we began to smoke I brought out a port- 
folio and showed some of the very curious things 
that I had been able to retain in my wandering life 

332 



THE LOST PLANT 

— autograph letters of Bruce and Burckhardt; a 
sketch-map of Humboldt; a relic of Connolly and 
Stoddart from Bukhara which had not been found 
by Dr. Wolff; photographs of Convolvulus Sabbatius 
and Campanula Sabbatia which I had myself taken 
from living plants at Capo di Noli, the only place 
in the world where they grow; and a few similar 
things. 

" You are an amateur photographer, then? " said 
M. Blancsube. 

" Don't be alarmed for yourself, monsieur, there 
are no instantaneous cameras concealed in the walls 
to take you in an unguarded moment ; I photograph 
only plants. And I could show our friends here, 
if they were not already too learned to need them, 
photographs of nearly every plant growing on the 
island, except of the one we all want most to see, 
the Simcea Hummii. I can, however, show you 
something about that; but before I open this en- 
velope I must make a bargain with them. What 
I want is the drug. At one time I should have been 
glad of the fame of the discovery, but now I am 
too old to care much about that, as well as of the 
great reward offered for the plant ; but, while money 
is always an object, I have luckily a few weeks ago 
received a legacy large enough to enable me to live 
wherever I please in tolerable comfort. Therefore 

333 



THE LOST PLANT 

if I show you now what I have carefully preserved, 
in the hope that I might myself some day be fortu- 
nate enough to come across the plant, I must ask 
both Dorat and Furniss, or whoever is the dis- 
coverer, to furnish me with one living root, after he 
has taken proper measures to secure his priority of 
discovery." 

To this they both agreed, and after telling them 
in detail of my acquaintance with Humm or Hume; 
of his tragic death in the desert, on the eve of an- 
other voyage to our island; and of how he came to 
make me the heir of his secret, I showed them, first, 
a careful water-coloured drawing of the plant, and 
then a dried specimen of it just as it was coming 
into bloom. Finally, I unfolded a leaf of paper on 
which Humm had drawn from memory a sketch of 
the locality where the plant was found, and of the 
route which he had taken from the coast. Unfor- 
tunately the paper had got worn out at the folds, 
from being carried in the old botanist's pocket- 
book; and the chart was so illegible and confused 
as to be of comparatively little value. The aston- 
ishment and interest with which my revelations 
were received by all present, although Blancsube 
needed a few words of explanation in order further 
to understand the matter, were so great as to justify 
me to myself for the little coup de theatre which I 

334 



THE LOST PLANT 

had prepared. When one gets old, one's vanity is 
pleased with even such little harmless successes. 

While the map was being carefully examined by 
the Governor, who was trying to identify localities, 
Blancsube suggested — what, strangely, never oc- 
curred to me — that it might be photographed. 
This I offered to do at once and to give both Dorat 
and Furniss copies, as well as to allow them the use 
of the little herbarium I possessed and of all my 
photographs of plants. 

" But," I said, " you will notice from Humm's 
note that the plant was found just coming into 
bloom on October 6th, and to-day is September 
20th. If either of you intend to look for it in ear- 
nest you must lose no time. You will, of course, 
take your own ways of announcing the discovery 
so as to secure the priority; although I believe that, 
according to the conditions of most of the rewards 
offered, the plant must be brought back in a living 
condition and planted in a botanical garden. The 
Governor has one here under his charge, though 
I am surprised to learn to-day that he takes such 
a personal interest in it. I must tell you, also, that 
I have still deposited in a safe place a bit of the 
drug, which, however, is not unknown to others, 
and which will serve for the identification of the 
plant; and I shall be greatly pleased if, when you 

335 



THE LOST PLANT 

find it, you will send a messenger to let me know. 
When you come back I hope to be able to show 
you a fairly good specimen of it growing in my own 
garden." 

They all laughed at my last remark, which they 
thought a mere bit of chaff; but in very truth, I had 
a few days before planted in an out-of-the-way 
place a tuber which I had every reason to believe 
was that of the Simcea. 



Ill 

Within the week both Furniss and Dorat started 
on the quest, the former taking the route which he 
had combined with the Governor's from Humm's 
sketch-map; and the latter preferring, on hints re- 
ceived from the natives, to begin with the other end 
of the island, whither he went by sea. For some 
days we heard nothing. At last one afternoon a 
negro brought me a laconic note from Furniss, say- 
ing, simply : " I have found it, and, with due in- 
gratitude, I hope that I am ahead even of you." 
I immediately went out and looked again at my 
precious plant; for the tuber had sprouted, and the 
rapidly unfolding leaves were beginning (at all 
events to my imagination) to present a strong re- 
semblance to the dried specimen given me by 

336 



THE LOST PLANT 

Humm. I am ashamed to tell how many times 
that day I had already looked at the plant; and, in- 
deed, I was beginning to grow nervous, anxious, 
envious, and jealous of my rivals; and to think that 
I had made a precious old fool of myself in being 
so generous with my information. After all, what 
difference did it make to me if they did kill each 
other — people whom I hardly knew? But as the 
cool freshness of evening approached, my amiability 
returned; and I resolved to go to the Governor's 
and invite myself to dinner, and find out what in- 
formation he had received; for I felt sure that he 
knew something more. Sir Thomas was in very 
good spirits, but could tell me nothing that I did 
not know. He was glad to see me, and, for a won- 
der, we were quite alone. We concluded that 
piquet would be better than the usual double- 
dummy; the card-tables were brought out, the 
lights were being arranged, and the soda-water and 
glasses exposed on the side-table, when a clatter of 
hoofs was heard coming down the road, and in a 
moment more a message was brought to us from a 
coffee-planter that the body of a man had been 
found at the bottom of a precipice, in a place about 
twenty miles away, but hard to reach. It was 
thought to be that of an Englishman, apparently 
a scientific man, as he had been collecting plants; 
Vol. l— 22 337 



THE LOST PLANT 

and the request was made for the despatch of some- 
one to identify, if possible, the corpse, with instruc- 
tions as to its burial. We had no question but that 
it was Captain Furniss, as we knew of no one else 
corresponding to the description. From what I 
knew, or rather suspected, it flashed through me at 
once that there had been foul play. But I consid- 
ered it best, for the moment at least, to keep my 
suspicions to myself, as they might be entirely un- 
founded. After a hurried consultation with me as 
to the best course to pursue, Sir Thomas decided 
that two or three men from the hospital should go 
on at once with extra horses, and that he and the 
doctor would leave before daybreak, driving as far 
as the road was practicable, so as to reach the field 
of the accident at the earliest possible moment in 
the morning. I readily acceded to his suggestion 
to accompany him. 

We had little time for sleep, as we started very 
early, and the sun was just rising when we had to 
leave the high-road and mount our horses. Had 
it not been for the errand on which we were bent 
and our desire to hasten, I should have greatly en- 
joyed this early ride on one of our delightful South- 
ern spring mornings. As we descended the ridge 
we had opposite us a hill-side, which we had to cross 
later, covered with plantations of coffee and pepper, 

338 



THE LOST PLANT 

while the valley below was green with the sugar- 
cane. Flowers of all kinds grew in profusion along 
the roadside, and I could not help observing them 
carefully and mentally repeating their names. But 
the detour was long, and it was a toilsome march. 
That the body was that of Captain Furniss there 
could be no doubt. There were no signs of stabs 
or shots, but it was so bruised and cut by the rocks 
that, although it had been carefully covered with 
leafy boughs, decomposition had already begun, 
and it was necessary to bury it as soon as possible. 
Due note, however, was taken of its position and 
of various apparently petty details. One circum- 
stance I could not help noticing at once, and I nat- 
urally called the Governor's attention to it. The 
botanical specimen-box lay at a little distance from 
the body; it had evidently been opened and a 
search had been made among the plants it had con- 
tained; for they were lying in a confused heap, not 
as if they had been accidentally shaken out. This 
certainly looked strange. The plant that was 
sought for was not among them. The pressing- 
boards were missing, and as I felt sure that he or 
one of his men would carry them, that also 
seemed strange. Those, however, we afterwards 
discovered, caught on a ledge of rock above. One 
of the men climbed up with difficulty and threw 

339 



THE LOST PLANT 

them down to us; they were still strapped together, 
but the drying- paper contained no plants of any 
kind, and in all probability they had not been used 
in that last day's excursion. Out of pardonable 
curiosity I looked carefully at every sheet, even 
holding them up to the light; and it seemed to me 
as if on one I detected the outline of the Simcea. 

With the consent of the planter who owned the 
land, a grave was dug for poor Furniss close to the 
spot where he fell, and his body was tenderly and 
reverently placed in it, Sir Thomas reading, in a 
broken voice, the English burial service, with only 
myself to make the responses. We resolved to 
place a tablet or cut an inscription upon the nearest 
rock in commemoration of this martyr to science. 
I could not help thinking of a similar tablet I had 
once seen in the old quarries near Syracuse where 
the Athenians had been imprisoned and starved. 
But that was to an American midshipman, named 
Nicholson, who had fallen in a duel with a British 
officer, in maintaining the honour of his flag, in 
the opening years of the century. 

It needed no hint of mine as to my private sus- 
picion to induce Sir Thomas to proceed to a minute 
investigation of the rock from which Furniss had 
fallen. For that it was necessary to return to the 
high road, proceed along it some distance farther, 

340 



THE LOST PLANT 

and then turn to the left over a difficult bridle-path, 
and then a foot-path among the rocks. I did not 
feel equal to this, and stayed in the little hut on the 
roadside where we had left the carriage; while Sir 
Thomas, who had kept up wonderfully, went on 
with the others to the scene of the accident. 

The report which they brought back was, in one 
sense, very satisfactory. The place from which 
Furniss had fallen was identified, close to a splendid 
clump of that lovely, fragrant flower which the 
natives call naruna — the botanical name of which 
escapes me now — which was somewhat rare, and 
was the finest Sir Thomas had ever seen. The 
marks were seen where Furniss's foot had slipped, 
and there were no traces of a struggle or of the 
presence of anyone else. He had apparently been 
engaged in securing fine specimens of the naruna, 
when a treacherous branch or twig broke and down 
he went. Nevertheless it was impossible entirely 
to exclude the hypothesis that he might have been 
pushed off by some barefooted native coming up in 
silence behind him. 

We had wondered what had become of Furniss's 
servants; but while we were resting from the fa- 
tigue and emotion of the day, we were joined by 
them. They did not yet know of his death. Two 
mornings before, owing to the illness of the special 

34i 



THE LOST PLANT 

man who carried his traps and assisted him in plac- 
ing the specimens between the drying-papers, the 
captain had insisted on starting out alone, with the 
expectation of returning in the course of a couple 
of hours. It was only, however, towards night 
that his absence caused any apprehension. They 
looked for him in vain that night, and had been 
searching for him without result ever since. So 
far their evidence all agreed. They utterly denied 
having met any other white man for several days 
before that, and had seen no suspicious character 
either on the day of Furniss's disappearance or 
since. They had not seen Dorat. But when they 
tried to explain why they had not brought away 
the whole of their master's collections, or even all 
of his kit, there were strange and suspicious hesita- 
tions and contradictions. They professed to know 
nothing of any living plants, planted, or otherwise 
preserved by Furniss. As the place which had 
been the captain's last head-quarters was a long 
way off and difficult to reach, Sir Thomas decided 
not to go himself, but to send one of the men from 
the hospital, on whom he thought he could thor- 
oughly depend, back there with one of Furniss's 
black followers, in order to make a thorough inves- 
tigation of the camp, and bring away everything, 
explaining to him the importance of the matter. 

342 



THE LOST PLANT 

It seemed to us quite plain that someone — 
whether a rival or a native herb-doctor, or, rather, 
herb-charmer, or, perhaps, one of the plantation- 
hands who had discovered the body — had searched 
the botanical case found near the corpse; and that 
someone had probably also searched his tent; at the 
same time we had no actual proof that Furniss had 
yet attempted to dig up and remove any specimens 
of the plant, even if he had found it. He had per- 
haps waited to do that until the instant of starting 
on his return, when it would be in the more devel- 
oped state. Nor did we find out anything subse- 
quently to make us change that opinion. 

We were just taking a hasty bite before starting 
on our return to town, when there suddenly came 
on one of those torrential showers which are not 
unusual in tropical countries. Fortunately the hut 
in which we were stood on high ground, or we 
should have run the risk of being swept away. 
Rain fell in sheets. The continued thunder and 
vivid flashes of lightning frightened the horses, 
while the poor natives cowered on the floor of the 
hut from fear. It seemed as if the storm would 
never end; but just when the thatched roof was be- 
coming like a sieve, and we were beginning to be 
wet by the drizzle, the storm passed away as sud- 
denly as it had begun. 

343 



THE LOST PLANT 

It was, however, impossible to move. The 
ground was water-soaked and the road too heavy 
for our vehicles; more than that, the dry bed of the 
little stream we had crossed in the morning was 
now filled with a rapid, raging river. There was 
nothing to do but to wait. 

By sunrise the stream had fallen sufficiently to 
allow us to proceed, and we reached the town with- 
out any serious difficulty, but through what a scene 
of desolation! Everywhere the lowlands were 
covered with gravel and mud; good land had 
been temporarily ruined, and the sugar-canes were 
broken down and destroyed. We heard afterwards 
that in other places serious damage had been done 
to the coffee and spice plantations. 

My servant, as he opened the door for me, had a 
careworn and dejected look, as if reproaching me 
for having stayed out all night; and when, while 
waiting for a cup of tea, I started down the garden- 
path, he warned me to be careful as the ground 
was undermined and treacherous, or something of 
that sort. A fear passed through my mind, which, 
alas! was only too well founded. The consulate 
was not far from the edge of a little stream, which, 
in swelling so suddenly, had cut for itself another 
temporary channel and had swept away a part of 
my garden — a part which had contained many 

344 



THE LOST PLANT 

plants which were dear to me, and, more than all, 
that precious plant which I before believed and 
now felt sure was the Simcoa. 



IV 

Days passed, and there was no news from Dorat. 
The accident to Furniss, the destruction of my gar- 
den, and the silence of Dorat, worked so strongly 
upon my nerves that I became disgusted with the 
island and everything in it, and I had serious 
thoughts of resigning. My work had not been 
hard at this post, for the trade with the United 
States was not great, and American ships came so 
infrequently that the quarrels and complaints of the 
crews were rather a diversion than a burden. But 
a few busy days happened to come just then, and 
made me feel how wretched my life would be were 
I deprived of just that kind of work to which I had 
been accustomed from my youth up. I was too 
old to engage in another occupation — even had I 
needed so to do — and could not bear the thought 
of absolute idleness. Besides, the position itself is 
a pleasant one to a man old in the service, who 
neither overrates its advantages nor neglects its 
opportunities. Some of my friends used to think 
me unpatriotic because I had lived so many years 

345 



THE LOST PLANT 

abroad. But they forgot that I was all this time 
in the Government service; and I am sure that, if 
anything will make a man patriotic, it is to feel that 
it is his sole duty in life to guard and advance the 
interests of his country without other cares or oc- 
cupations. He is not, like people who remain at 
home, distracted by the struggle for existence, and 
thinking of the duty he owes to his country only 
when drawn on the jury, or dunned by the tax-col- 
lector, or inspirited by party enthusiasm just be- 
fore an election. Abroad, his consular or diplo- 
matic duties form the chief object of his life; and 
distance and time make him love and cherish more 
some manifestations of our national life which, it 
is true, might after a long absence in other lands 
prove irksome to him were he living at home. 

I therefore thought better of this, and sent by 
steamer — to be telegraphed from Suez — a request 
for a leave of absence, to be taken at once. Before 
resigning, I thought I would go home on leave, 
and see whether I could not obtain promotion or 
a change of post; but, as I had no intention of ever 
returning to the island, I proceeded to pack up or 
otherwise dispose of my goods and chattels. 

At last, one morning I received a message from 
the gerant of the French consulate saying that 
Dorat was ill with malarial fever at the other end 

346 



THE LOST PLANT 

of the island. He had been very low for several 
days, but had finally roused sufficiently to send 
word, and hoped to see me before he died. Much 
as I could have wished to go to him, the journey 
was at that time beyond my strength. We decid- 
ed to send a good doctor, who agreed that, if Dorat 
were in a state that he could be moved, he should 
be brought down to the nearest point on the coast, 
and from thence, if possible, to Port Philip by sea. 
I even gave the doctor the bit of the precious drug 
that I had preserved so long, explaining its quali- 
ties, with the idea that it might possibly be of use. 

In a few days Dorat was brought to town, very 
weak, pale, and emaciated; but the doctor seemed 
to think that he had passed the crisis, and that if 
carefully nursed he would slowly recover. Al- 
though I was expecting to sail in the next steamer 
— for I had received a favourable reply to my tele- 
gram — I felt that I could not under the circum- 
stances leave Dorat in this condition, and — to 
make a long story short— I threw up my passage, 
stayed on, and devoted myself to looking after him, 
making him comfortable, and cheering the hours 
of his convalescence until he was strong enough to 
be sent home, when we came to Europe in the 
same steamer. 

It was impossible not to be impressed with his 
347 



THE LOST PLANT 

patience, his gentleness, his strong will, and his de- 
votion to science. His character appeared to me 
in an entirely new light, and all my foolish suspi- 
cions and prejudices speedily vanished. It was a 
long time, however, before I dared tell him of the 
accident to Furniss, and of my own personal disap- 
pointment. To this he seemed to pay no attention, 
and I said nothing more. It was only some days 
afterwards that he seemed suddenly to remember 
the incidents just preceding his journey to the in- 
terior, and inquired how Furniss had fared. He 
was evidently sincerely shocked and astonished at 
the story I had to tell him. Indeed, at first, all 
memory of recent events seemed to have passed 
away from him, leaving his mind a blank. When 
he had recovered his memory he felt sure that just 
at the time when he was fighting with the fever 
he had seen and handled the Simcea, and made 
preparations for its transport; intending to start on 
his return on the very day when he was stricken 
powerless. But these may have been delusions of 
his fevered brain. From that time his most ardent 
desire was to get well quickly in order to visit 
again that locality where he was sure the Simcea 
grew. For my part, I tried to persuade him that 
we had probably all been victims of a delusion, and 
that the quest was hopeless. 

348 



THE LOST PLANT 

I should perhaps have succeeded in this had not 
the incoming steamer brought, with introductions 
to me, a small scientific party organised and sent 
out by Cornell University with the intention of 
making a careful exploration of that and the neigh- 
bouring islands, which had been never really ex- 
plored since the time of Bougainville, and then only 
superficially. Among the special objects of the 
expedition was that of discovering the Simcca, as 
well as the finding of some traces of the dodo. My 
part of the play was ended ; and I therefore not only 
gave all the information that I could — telling these 
enthusiastic young men the outward story of the 
most recent events; but I also made over to them 
for the museum of the university all my collections 
and special books, about the disposal of which I 
had been somewhat in a quandary. I have not yet 
heard, however, that the expedition has discovered 
either the lost bird or the lost plant. 



349 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Abdul Hamid Pasha, 61 

Abdul Medjid, Sultan, 59 

Abdullah, 192 

Academy, Plato's, 154 

Acropolis, the, 153, 154 

Adee, A. A., letters to, 164-166 

Adrianople, 73, 103, no, 115, 116 

yEgean, the, 118 

" A Fugue of Bach," 209 

Ahmed-Aga, 67, 68, 71 

Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha, 113 

Ahmed Tefik Pasha, 117 

Ahmed Vefyk, 114 

Akhrosimof, Maria Dmitrievna, 

241 
Aksakof, 208 
Aksakof, Madame, 208 
" A Landlord's Morning," 227, 

253 

Alassio, 170, 172, 175, 178, 184, 1S6, 
190, 197, 204 

Albano, 136 

Albany, Countess of, 186 

Alexander, Emperor, 238 

Alexander I., Emperor, 234 

Alexander III., 143 

Alexandria, 191 

Alcxandrova, Madame, 212 

Alexandrovitch, Count Peter (Tol- 
stoy), 232 

Alexis, 232 

Alexis, Grand Duke, 34, 35, S3 

AH, 192 

Alliance, U.S.S., 204 

America, 26, 39, 45, 58, 131, 143. 
147, 149, 151, 152, 169, 170, 181, 
185, 187, 188, 190, 195, 211, 278, 
308 

America, 180 

" American Diplomacy," 169, 183 



" American Marriages Abroad," 
185 

Americans, the, 59 

Amersfoort, 134 

Andersen, Hans Christian, 186 

Andreievitch, Count Dimitri (Tol- 
stoy), 232 

Andreievitch, Count Dimitri (Tol- 
stoy), 232 

Andrews, James Bruyn, 18, 174 

" Anna Karenin," 219, 251, 264, 270, 
295, 299 

Annenkof, 262, 263 

Anthim, 133 

Arabs, the, 104 

Aral, Sea of, 42 

Archaeology, American School of, 
166 

Arenenberg, 190 

Arizona, 43 

Armenia, 121 

Armenians, 183 

Armstrong, 147, 148 

Arnold, 93 

Arnold, Madame, 273 

Ashmolean Museum, 320 

Asia, 26, 31, 52, 76, 105, 213 

Asia, Central, 42, 49-51, 53, 54, 82, 
83, 277 

Assiout, 194 

Assym Pasha, 127 

Athenaum, the, 141 

Athens, 119, 128, 152, 160, 162, 164, 
166, 169, 174, 179, 184, 187, 199, 319 

Auerbach, 274, 280 

Austin, 123 

Austrians, the, 91 

Azarian, 117 

Aziz Pasha, 60, 61 

Azof, 136 



Vol. I. — 23 



353 



INDEX 



Baden-Baden, 21, 210, 254 

Baker, 112 

Baldwin, Admiral, 161, 175 

Balkan Peninsula, 316 

Balkans, the, 73, 75 

Balzac, 237 

Bancroft, 28, 275 

Baring, Walter, 62, 73, 78, 82, 97, 

121 
Bartenief, 208, 238 
Basel, 189, 195 

Bashi-bazouks, 61, 63, 66, 67 
Bashkirs, 283 
Basili, 119 
Bassano, 179 
Batak, 67, 68, 71, 87, 91 
Bath, 132 

Bath and Wells, Bishop of, 106 
Battenberg, Prince Alexander, 120 
Bauer, Caroline, 190 
Bayard, Mr., 180 
Bayazed, 307 
Beaconsfield, 93, 96, 97 
Beauharnais, Countess, 244 
Beethoven, 290, 292 
" Beethoven's Last Quartet," 209 
Bek, the, 47 
Belgrade, 56-58, 90, 93, 143, 146, 168, 

303. 304, 311. 3i3» 3i4» 3I7-3I9 
Benkendorp, 119 
Benningsen, 233 
Berlin, 148 
Berlioz, 210, 212 
Berne, 188, 189 
Besika, Baie de, 115 
Bibikof, Mr., 219 
Bibikofs, the, 221 
Bilibin, 240 

Birmingham, 131, 133, 214 
Bismarck, 98 

Black Sea, the, 100, 104, 111, 116 
Blaine, 148, 181, 182, 184, 185 
Blessington, Lady, 186 
Bluntschli, 188 
Boker, Geo. H., 54, 56, 82; letter 

from, 83-85 
Boker, Mrs., 84 
Bolkonsky, 233, 240-242 
Bologna, 179, 186 
Bonaparte, Madame Mere, 186 



Bonivard, 189 

Bonstetten, 189 

Borodino, battle of, 238, 247, 291 

Bors, 216 

Bosnia, 56, 312 

Bosphorus, the, 64, 104, 108, 117, 

123 
Boyardjik, 69, 75 
" Boyhood " (Tolstoy), 227, 251, 

252, 255 
Boyne, August, 306, 308, 309, 312, 

3i3» 316-320 
Bragge, Mr., 131 
Brandenburg, 309, 313 
Bratiano, 145 
Breecker, 134 
Brescia, 179 
British fleet, 116 
Browning, 195 
Browning, Mrs., 180 
Bruce, Countess, 189 
Bruce, Mrs., 105 
Brunswick, 120 
Bubastis, 195 
Bucarest, 91, 98, 137, i39i 142, 144. 

149, 168 
Buckingham Palace, 107 
Bukhara, 47, 48 
Bukharans, the, 26 
Bulgaria, 59, 62, 63, 76, 82, 85, 86, 

88, 94, 99, 102, 105, 115, 118, 120, 

121, 130, 132, 138-140, 145. 180, 

312; Prince of, 120 
Bulgarian Church, 59; Constitu- 
tion, 85, 86, 91; Deputation, 172; 

National Assembly, 132, 133 
Bulgarians, 62, 91, 112; petitions 

of, 79-81 
Burgas, 112 
Burmah, 148 
Burnaby, 105, 112 
Burutina, 67 
Buyukdere, 108, in 
Byron, 108, 177, 178, 189, 233, 252 



Cairo, 167, 170, 184, 187, 190-192, 

194, 196, 198, 203, 204 
Cairoli, 135 
Calcutta, 184 



354 



INDEX 



Calice, 91 

Calvert, Consular Agent, 116 

Calvin, 189 

Cannes, 172 

Canova, 180 

Canton Thurgau, 190 

Cardwell (U. S. Diplomatic 
Agent and Consul General at 
Cairo), 192 

Carlsbad, 204 

Carnarvon, Lord, 106 

Carol (King of Roumania), 145 

Castrocaro, 177 

Catacazy, 130 

Catherine, 243 

Catherine, Grand Duchess, 143 

Catherine I., 232 

Catherine II., 82, 84, 240 

Catherine, Queen, of Sweden, 38 

Caucasus, the, 23, 208, 223, 226, 228, 
253. 254 

Cavendish, Lord and Lady Fred- 
erick, 106 

Century, the, 195 

" Century Dictionary," 171 

Cesnola, General di, 148 

Chamberlain, Mr., 131 

Chambers, General, 113, 115, 116, 
120, 129 

Charriere, Madame de, 189 

" Chartreuse de Parme," 244 

Chateaubriand, 186 

Chaudordy, 90, 95 

Chefket Pasha, 69, 75, 93 

Chemnitz, 305, 313 

Cherbuliez, 189 

Chicago, 180, 308 

" Childhood " (Tolstoy), 227, 251, 
252 

" Childhood and Boyhood," 299 

Chillon, 189 

China, 147 

Chinese, the, 129 

Chiozzia, 186 

Christina, Queen, 186 

Chur, 190 

Circassians, the, 63, no, 112 

Clarke, Campbell, 93 

Coburg, Prince of, 172 

Coffey, Mr., 31 



" Colonial New York — Philip 
Schuyler and his Family," 6 

Colorado, 43 

Columbia College, 17, 108; Uni- 
versity, 179 

" Confessions " (Tolstoy), 224, 
231, 251, 272, 282 

Conference, the, 85, 88, 90, 92-97, 

99, 119, 121 
Constant, Benjamin, 189 
Constantinople, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 

73, 75, 77, 81, 85, 88, 90, 91, 95-98, 

100, 108, no, in, 114-116, 123, 
125-127, 142, 153, 154, 165, 167, 
184 

Constantinovitch, Count Alexis 

(Tolstoy), 232 
Constanz, 189 
Conway, Moncure D., letter from, 

76 
Cooper, 186 
Coppet, 189 
Corfu, 165 
Corilla, 186 
Corinne, 180, 186 
Cornell University, 6, 169, 179 
Correggio, 40 
Corsica, 104 

Corti, Count, 95, 100, 114, 124 
Cosmopolitan Club, 106 
Cossacks, 25 
" Count Julian," 178 
Cox, S. S., 18 
Crete, 117 

Crimea, the, 23, 227, 228 
Currie, 96 

Curtin, Andrew G., 31, 32, 34, 42 
Cyclades, the, 167 

Dagmar (Grand Duchess, now 

Empress Dowager), 34 
Daily News, London, 62, 64, 78, 118 
Dalziel, 140 

Danilefsky, 274, 294, 300 
Dante, 178 

Danube, the, 227, 319 
Daphne, 154 

Dardanelles, the, 114, 116, 120 
" Dead House," the, 239 
" Dead Souls," 239 



355 



INDEX 



Dear-Bekir, 80 

De Forest, Mr., 18 

Dekeleia, 162, 163 

Delos, 167 

Denisof, 241 

Denis-Davydof, 241 

Derby, Earl of, 62, 63 

Derkos, 113 

Despatch, the, 117, 120, 124, 126 

Diano Castello, 176 

Diano Marina, 176 

Diary, 93-96, 1 13-130 

Dick, 231 

Dickens, 237 

Dilke, Ashton, 106 

Dilke, Sir Charles, 105, 106 

Dimitri, Tolstoy, 224, 225 

Dimitroff, Peter, 65 

Djura Beg, 46 

Dolgoruky, 233 

" Don Juan," 233 

Dormer, General, 199 

Dostoiefsky, 239 

Dresden, 41, 233 

Drina, the, 306 

Droz, 188 

Drubetskoy, 240, 241 

Druzhinin, 229, '258, 259 

Duff, Grant, 105 

Dumas, Alexandre, 186, 236, 237 

Eastlake, 40 

Ebers, 19s 

Edgebaston, 131 

Edinburgh, Duke of, 119, 120 

Edmunds, 185 

Edwards, Miss A. B., 195 

Egypt, 148, 188, 194, 197. 202 

Egyptian Jews, the, 19s 

" Egyptian Princess," 195 

d'Ehrenhoff, 93 

" Ein Neues Leben," 274, 275 

Einsiedeln, 190, 195 

Eleusis, 154 

Eliot, George, 186 

Elliot, Sir Henry, 61, 62, 91, 93, 96. 

97, 100 
Elliot, Lady, 93 
Elliot, Miss, 93 
Emir, the, 46, 47, 48 



Emperor, the, of Russia, 34-36, 53. 

120, 143, 160, 244 
Empire, Ottoman, 103 
Empress, the, of Russia, 3.4, 35, 120 
England, 62, 64, 76, 77, 90, 101, 104, 

130, 132, 149, 169, 187, 219, 236 
English fleet, 114, 116, 117 
Erasmus, 189 
Erik XIV., 38 
Erzeroum, no 
Eski-Saara, 75 
Euboea, 167 
Euclid, 196 

" Eugen Baumann," 274, 275 
Eugene, Prince, 313 
Europe, 76, 86, 95, 98, 105, 121, 126, 

151, 211, 274, 279, 305 
Evans, Arthur J., 320 
Evening Post, 30, 275 

Fallmerayer, 234 
Farak, 192, 203 
" Fathers and Sons," 20, 259 
" Faust," 258, 259 
Feodor Andreievitch (Tolstoy), 234 
Feodor Petrovitch, Count (Tol- 
stoy), 234 
Ferdinand, Prince of Bulgaria, 172 
Fet, 260, 262 
Field, Cyrus, 174 
Finland, 38, 39 
Fish, Mr., 55, 103 
Fiske, J. S., letters to, 73-75 
Flaubert, 267 

" Fliegende Hollander," 41 
Florence, 186 
Forster, Mr., 18 
Forster, 105, 106 
Foscolo, Ugo, 186 
France, 98, 99, 130. 169,231,236,250 
Frankfurt, 184 
Franklin, General, 34, 37 
Freeman, E. A., 78, 106, 320 

Gabrovna, 75 
Gaillard, Colonel, 120 
Galata, 120 

Galkin-Vrassky, Mr., 210 
Gallipoli, no, 117 



356 



INDEX 



Galloway, 115 

Garda, Lago di, 179 

Garfield, President, 149 

Garfield, Mrs., 149 

Gargiulo, 112, 114 

Garrison, Mr., 285 

Gazette, Pall Mall, 102 

" Gebir," 178 

Geneva, 189, 234 

Geneva, New York, 44 

Gennadius, 107 

Genzano, 136 

George, King (of the Hellenes), 

154, i55. 161-164, 168 
Germany, 98, 99, 231, 233, 236 
Gibb, Mrs., 201 
Gibbon, 10S, 189 
Gladstone, W. E., 101-103, 105, 106, 

132 
Glinka, 210, 248 
Godkin, E. L., 181 
Goldoni, 1S6 

Golovatchef, General, 128 
Gontcharof, 229 
Goodwin, Professor, 166 
Gordon, 192 

Gore-Browne, General, 107 
Gortchakof, 235 

Gortchakof, Prince, 35, 227, 244 
Gosselin, 107 
Gourko, 118 
Grant, General, 106, 120, 122, 124- 

128, 130 
Grant, Mrs., 124-126, 133, 134 
Grant, Jesse, 123 
Grant, Louis Bedell, 191 
Greece, 107, 136, 152, 158, 167, 168, 

312 
Greek Church, the, 164 
Greeks, 112 
Greene, Francis V., 113, 116-118, 

121-123, 125, 128-130 
Greenough, Professor, 166 
Grigorovitch, 229 
" Guelderland, History of," 134 
Gustavus IV., 189 



Haden-Keui, 113 
Hadji-Petros, Colonel, 
Hafiz Pasha, 67 



156 



Hague, the, 134 

Haider Bey, 75 

Hakluyt Society, 100 

Hamburg, 233 

Hampton, 147 

Harcourt, 106 

Hartley, Sir Charles, 105 

Harvard, 166 

Hawthorne, 187 

Haxtun, Captain, 115 

Helbert, 129 

Helen, Grand Duchess, 209 

Heliopolis, 196 

Helsingfors, 38 

Herald, New York, 49, 64, 171 

Herodotus, 196 

Herzegovina, 56, 68 

Hesse, Prince Alexander of, 120 

Hieropolis, 196 

Higginson, Captain, 115, 124 

Hohenzollern, 138 

Holland, 133, 138 

Hornby, Admiral, 115 

Howard, Cardinal, 13s 

Howard, Maurice, 173-175; letter 

to, 200 
Hoyos, 144 
Hunt, Leigh, 186 
Huss, John, 189 

Ignatief, Countess, 91, 126, 129, 130 
Ignatief, General, 93-93. 97 _I oo, 

1 18-121, 125-127, 129, 130 
Ikon, 163, 215 
Illitch, Christo, 81 
Illitch, Stef, 81 
Ilya (Tolstoy), 216 
India, 148 
Indris, 231, 232 

Iowa, 56; State University of, 179 
Irtenief, 251, 252 
Islam, 104 
Ismail, 234 
Ismailia, 204 
d'Istria, 87 

" Italian Immigration," 188 
" Italian Influences," 186 
Italy, 104, 170, 172, 236 
Ithaca, New York, 3, 4. 7, 18, 44 
Jaffa Railway, 114 



357 



INDEX 



James, G. P. R., 186 

Jansen, 134 

Japan, 147 

Jeremiah, 196 

Jerusalem, 104, 114 

Jewell, Marshall, 49, 50, 5 2 , 55 

Jews, 32 

Johns Hopkins University, 169, 179 

Jominis, the two, 189 

Jones, 148 

Joseph, 195, 196 

Kalakaua, 148 

" Kalevala," 20, 38 

Karl, Archduke, 233 

Karshi, 48 

Karystos, 167 

Kashgar, 129 

Katkof, 207, 208, 237 

Kaufmann, General, 52-54, 83, 128, 
129 

Kazala, 43 

Kazan, 224, 225, 291, 293 

Kazzanlyk, 75 

Kearsarge, the, 161 

Keller, Count, 113 

Kenler, 190 

Kennan, Mr., 210 

Khiva, 44 

Khodjent, 46 

Khokand, "jy 

Kief, 29 

King, Charles, 108 

King, Miss (Mrs. Eugene Schuy- 
ler), letters to, 63, 71, 86, 92, 96- 
101 ; marriage of, 108 

King, Rufus, 108 

King, the (of Roumania), 144, 169 

King, the (of Serbia), 169 

Kirghiz, 26 

Kitab, 46 

Klissura, 69 

Kock, Paul de, 236, 237 

Kokan, 42, 46, 47 

Kolniscke Zeitung, 64 

Konigsmark, Aurora von, 136 

Kossovo, battle of, 306 

Koszciuszko, 190 

Kraguyevatz, 317, 318 

Kryzhanofsky, General, 248 



Kulm, battle of, 234 
Kuragin, 240 
Kutshura, 74 
Kutuzof, 245 

" Lalla Rookh," 13 

" Lamentations," 196 

Lancaster, the, 161, 162 

Landor, 177 

Lanskoy, Count, 210 

Latouche-Treville, 114 

Lausanne, 189 

Lavater, 190 

Lawson, 96 

Layard, 114, 115. 126 

Lazar, August Boyne de, 305 

Lazar, Frederic de, 309 

Lazar, King, 306, 307, 308, 319 

Lazar, Prince, 306 

Le Bon, 128 

Leontief, 207 

Leontius, 232 

Leopold I., 190 

" Le Roman Russe," 244 

Leuchtenberg, Duke of, 244 

Leuchtenberg, Prince Eugene, 119 

Levant Herald, 114, 116, 121 

Levin, 223, 252, 253, 270, 271 

Lewis, Charlton, 18 

Liguria, 171 

Lincoln, 45 

Liubimof, Professor, 207 

Liuxiala, 38 

Loftus, Lord Augustus, 132 

" Lohengrin," 41 

London, 56, 77, 78, 101, 105, 133, 

140, 148, 150 
Long, Dr., 62 
Longfellow, 178 
Longinof, 243 
Louis Philippe, 190 
" Lucerne," 253 
Luther, 190 
Luzerne, 190 
Lynch, Jeremiah, 193, 194 

Macedonia, 115 

MacGahan, 44, 64, 96, H3» "5. "6» 
119, 121, 123, 125, 129 



358 



INDEX 



Mahmoud Pasha, no 

Mahn, Dr., 17 

Makarof, N., 214 

Mantua, 186 

Maragha, 194 

Maria Feodorovna, Empress, 245 

Marie Alexandrovna, Grand 

Duchess, 36, 37 
Marie Louise, 186 
Marie (Tolstoy), 223, 224 
Maritza, the, 73 
Marlborough Club, 105 
Marlborough House, 107 
Marmora, Sea of, 112 
" Marriages Abroad," 180 
Marsh, Geo. P., 135 
Matarieh, 196 
Maynard, Mr. (U. S. Minister at 

Constantinople), 75, 115, 124, 130 
Maynard, James, 112, 117, 120 
Maynard, Mrs., 117 
Mediterranean, the, 100, 101 
Mehemmed Ali Pasha, 127 
Mentone, 172, 175 
" Mes Memoires," 251 
Metastasio, 186 

Metropolitan, the Armenian, 117 
Metropolitan, the (of Bulgaria), 

139 
Metropolitan, the (of Greece), 155 
Metropolitan, the (of Roumania), 

149 
Metropolitan, the (of Russia), 34 
Michael, St., Prince of Tcherni- 

gof, 235 
Michaeli Vodu, 156, 161 
Michell, 32 
Mijatovitch, Mr. (See Miyato- 

vitch), 146 
Mikailofsky-Danilefsky, 248 
Milan, 245 

Milan, Prince, 57, 58 
Miliutin, 208 
Miller, Lieut., 123 
Millet, 118, 123, 125, 129 
Milner-Gibson, 126 
Milosh, 306 

Milosh, Obilitch, 307, 308 
Minnesota, 304, 305 
Mirsky, 116 



Miyatovitch (See Mijatovitch), 

303, 3i3 
Modena, 245 
Molino di Sopra, 170 
Monaco, 138 

Montagu, Lady M. W., 186 
Monte Carlo, 174, 175 
Montenegro, 56, 119, 121 
Moore, 178, 186 
Morava, 317 
Morgan, Lady, 186 
Morloy, 114 
Moscow, 21, 26, 29, 33, 42, 136, 207- 

212, 214, 216, 224, 233, 239, 242, 

243, 249, 250, 261-264, 272, 291, 294 
Moscow Gazette, the, 207 
Moses, 196 
Motley, Mr., 106 
Mott, General, 114 
Mouy, 114 
Mozart, 292 
Mundella, 105 
Murad I., 307, 308 
Murad, no 
Muravief-Karsky, Nikolai Niko- 

laievitch, 246 
Mussin-Pushkin, 225 
Mussulmans, 67, 70, 112, 312 

Mzensk, 269 

Nadustratz, Yefrem, 311 

Namyk Pasha, 117 

Naples, 186, 232 

Napoleon, 186, 233, 234, 236, 249 

Napoleon, Jerome, 188 

Napoleon, Louis, 190 

Nation, the, 18, 179, 180, 185, 186, 

203, 285 
Nekhliudof, Prince, 233 
Nemi, 136 
Neuchatel, 188, 189 
Neva, the, 36 
New Englander, 18 
New Haven, 17 
New Path, the, 18 
Nepi Princeton Review, 180 
New York, 4, 39, 49 
New York (City), 3, 44, 55 
Nice, 172 
Nicholas, Emperor, 229, 238 



359 



INDEX 



Nicholas, Grand Duke, 94, 11S, 

123, 125, 127, 128, 130 
Nicholas (Tolstoy), 223, 224 
Nicholson, Admiral, 161 
Nihilism, 238, 272 
Nikolas Hitch (Tolstoy), 234 
Nile, the, 191, 194, 197. 198 
North American, the, 18, 19, 180, 

181, 185 
Norton, C. E., 19 
Novikof, 243, 253 
Nykerk, 134 

Obilitch, 306, 317, 3-0 

Obilitch, Andria, 309, 311, 313. 3*6 

O'Connell, Dr., 135 

Odessa, 28, 95. J 4i 

Odoiefsky, Prince, 22, 23, 207, 208, 

211, 212 

Odoiefsky, Princess, 207, 210-213, 
242 

Ofrosimof, Madame, 241 

Olenin, 252, 253 

Olympia, 167 

Onore, 116 

Orel, 266 

Orenburg, 25, 26, 42, 43, 213 

Orr, Mr., 42, 49 

Osten Sacken, Baron, 53 

Osten Sacken, Countess, 224 

Osterman, Count Feodor (Tol- 
stoy), 234 

Osterman, Count Ivan (Tolstoy), 

234 
Osterman-Tolstoy, Count, 233 
Ostrofsky, 229 
Otho, 160 
Oxford, 320 

Pakoff, 37 

Palazzo Altemps, 135 

Palgrave, 106 

ranaguiourichte, 80 

Panagurishta, 66, 70 

Paracelsus, 189, 195 

Paris, 21, 36, 58, 105, 107, 120, 148- 

150, 184, 231 
Paris, Comte de, 106, 107 
Parma, 170, 186, 245 
Paul, Emperor, 234 



Paul, Grand Duke, 160, 166 

Pavlofsky, 260 

Payerm, 189 

Pears, 116 

Pennsylvania, 32 

Pentelicus, Mt., 154 

Pera, 81, 93, 109, 126, 127, 14- 

Peroffsky, Fort, 44 

Perushtitsa, 66, 74 

Pestalozzi, 189 

Peter, 232 

Peter Parley, 286 

Peter of Savoy, 189 

Peter the Great, 163 

" Peter the Great, Life of," 133. 
13S, 137. 140, 164, 165, 179 

Petritch, 69 

Petroffsky, 45 

Petrofsky, 53 

Phare de Bosphore, 115 

Phelps (U. S. Minister at Vien- 
na), 148 

Philippopolis, 61, 70, 71, 74, 7$, 86, 
89 

Pierre, 252-254 

Pierrepont, Mr., 106 

Piraeus, 154 

Pisa, 178, 186 

Plato, 196 
Plevna, no 

Poles, the, 233 

Political Science Quarterly, 188 

Pol on sky, 264, 269-270 

Torte, the, 60-62, 88, 90, 98, 99, n3> 

"5 
Porter, John A., 20 
Possagno, 179 
Post, the, 181 
Pcussin, 40 
Fraga, 233 
Prangius, 188 
President, the (Grant), 55 
" Prince Serebryanny," 232 
Prince, the (of Bulgaria), 138, 139 
Prince, the (of Serbia), 142, 146 
Prinkipo, 117, 119 
Prussia, King of, 315 
Pushkin, 209, 210, 239, 290 
Pyramids, the, 193 
Pythagoras, 196 



360 



INDEX 



Queen, the (of the Hellenes), 155, 

160, 162-164, 166 
Queen, the (of Roumania), 144, 

M5 
Queenstown, 21 
Quirinal, the, 135 

Radetsky, 116 

Radolinsky, Count, 124 

Radonitch, 119 

Raphael, 40 

Rapperschwyl, igo 

Rasgrad, 121 

Ravestyn, 134 

Read (U. S. Minister at Athens), 
155 

Red Book, 52, 53 

Reouf Pasha, 130 

Reuss, Prince, 124 

Revel, 29, 31 

Reynolds, 40 

Riviera, the, 170, 199, 201, 219 

Robert College, 61, 62, 64 

Robeson, Captain, 124 

Rocky Mountains, 39 

Rodosto, 112, 113 

Rogers, 186 

" Roi des Montagnes," 155 

Rome, 131, 133, i34> 137. 150-152, 
159, 183, 184, 186 

Rossini, 186 

Rostoptchin, Count, 241, 245, 230 

Roumania, 138, 152 

Roumania, Prince of, 9S 

Roumanian Government, the, 137 

Roumele Hissar, 64 

Round Table, the, 18 

Rousseau, 189 

Royal Asiatic Society, English, 92 

Royal Geographical Society, Eng- 
lish, 92 

Rumpelmayer, 174 

Rurik, 208, 235 

Ruskin, 40, 180, 186 

Russia, 20, 28, 31, 32, 39, 49, 53, 54, 
76, 84-86, 93, 94, 96, 104, 109, 130, 
187, 207, 208, 210, 214, 228, 230, 235, 
242, 254, 256, 263, 272, 275, 276, 
282, 299 

Russia, Emperor of, 132, 143, 160,209 



Russian Archives, the, 208, 238 
Russian Government, the, 53, 54 
Russian Messenger, the, 207, 237, 

243 
Russians, the (in Asia), 52 
Rustchuk, 139 

Saadoullah, 121 

Sackingen, 189 

Safvet Pasha, 94, 93, 113, 117, 121 

St. Gall, 189, 190 

St. Petersburg, 21, 22, 39-43, 48-50, 
5 2 , 54, S6» S2-84, 120, 130, 207, 209, 
212, 229, 230, 234, 243, 256, 292 

St. Sophia, 92, 115 

Sainte-Beuve, 21 

Sala, George Augustus, 93, 100, 107 

Salisbury, Lord, 90, 91, 93-100 

Salisbury, Lady, 91 

Salo, 179 

Salonica, 93 

Saltykof, Madame, 240 

Saltytchikha, the, 240 

Samara, 270, 276 

Samarcand, 42, 47, 48 

Sandwich Islands, 147, 148 

San Francisco, 194 

San Michele, 204 

San Remo, 175 

San Stefano, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123- 
128, 130 

Saratof, 42, 43 

Saros, Gulf of, 117 

Sava, the, 306, 309 

Saxe-Weimar, Grand Duchess of, 
116 

Saxony, 305, 308, 317 

Schaeffer, Mrs., letters to, 186, 194 

Schleppel, 189 

Schliemann, 157 

Schliemann, Madame, 157 

Schneider, Mr., 64, 119, 121 

Schongraben, 246 

Schopenhauer, 237 

Schuyler, Eugene, birth and an- 
cestry, 3; boyhood and youth, 8- 
20; Consul at Moscow, 21-31; 
visit to Orenburg, 25, 26; Con- 
sul at Revel, 31 ; Secretary of 
Legation in St. Petersburg, 31- 



36l 



INDEX 



56; journey to Central Asia, 42- 
49; Consul General and Secre- 
tary of Legation at Constanti- 
nople, 56-130; visits to Bulgaria, 
63-81, 86-89; Consul at Birming- 
ham, 131-133; Consul General at 
Rome, 134-136; Charge d'Af- 
faires and Consul General at Bu- 
carest, 137-152; visit to America, 
149-152; Minister to Greece, 
Serbia, and Roumania, 152-169; 
visit to America, 169; residence 
in Alassio, 170-190; Diplomatic 
Agent and Consul General at 
Cairo, 187-204 

Schuyler, Mrs. Eugene, 161-163, 
173. i77> 180, *9°'> letters to, 141- 
149, 192 

Schuyler, George Washington, 4-8 

Schuyler, Mrs. G. W., 7, 8 

Schuyler, Philip Pieterse, 4 

Schuyler, Walter, 39 

Scott, Mrs., 84 

Scott, Sir Walter, 174 

Scribner, Matilda (Mrs. G. W. 
Schuyler), 6 

Scribner, U. R., 7 

Scribner' s Monthly, 135, 185 

Secretary of State, the, 55 

Sedgwick, Miss, 186 

Segurs, the, 250 

Seraskierat, the, 127 

Serbia, 56, 57, 58, 121, 146, 152, iOS>, 
303-306, 309, 312, 318 

Serge (Tolstoy), 216, 222 

Serof, 212 

Sessbeicin, A. Enuceron, 89 

Sevastopol, 229, 248, 254, 256, 300 

Shabatz, 306, 309, 312 

Shakespeare, 268 

Shams-el-Nessin, 199 

Shaw, 132 

Sheffield, 214 

Shelley, 177, 178, 189 

Sherman, General, 130 

Sherman (Senator), 185 

Shipka Pass, the, 116 

Shumadia, 306, 309, 311, 312 

Shumla, 139 

Siam, 148 



Siberia, 42, 238, 239 

Sickles, General, 143 

Silesia, 314 

Silivria, 113 

Simpheropol, 229 

Sinaia, 144 

Skobelef, 113, 116, 128, 129 

Skobelef, General, 119 

Slichtenhorst, Arent van, 134 

Slichtenhorst, Hendrik van, 134 

Sliven, 70 

Slivno, 74, 75 

Smalley, G. W., 105, 106 

Smith, 148 

Smith, Eustace, 106 

Smith, Goldwin, 106 

Smollett, 180, 186 

" Smoke," 255 

Sobolefsky, 211 

Sofea Andreievna (Countess Tol- 
stoy), 215, 222, 299 

Sokol, 306, 311, 312 

Sophia, 70 

Sordello, 186 

Soudan, the, 192 

Southey, 178 

" Souvenirs," 251 

Souzo, Hospodar, 156 

Souzo, Prince, 156 

Spain, 23 

Spasskoe, 255, 268, 270, 272 

Spedding, 106 

Sphinx, the, 193 

Stael, Madame de, 185, 186, 189 

Stamboul, 103, 112 

Stamford, Mrs. Leland, 156, 157 

Stanley, 194 

Stanley, Lady, of Alderley, 107 

Staro-Lidovskaya, 227 

Stchetmin, 235 

Stebatchef, 119 

Steherbatchef, 121, 130 

Stendhal, 186, 244, 245 

Stillwater-on-the-Hudson, 4 

Stockmar, 190 

Stoilof, 139 

Strangford, Lady, 87 

Stremoukhoff, 53 

Sturgis, Russell, letters to, 22, 166, 
167, 171 



362 



INDEX 



Suez, 204 

Suez Canal, 37 

Suleiman, 192, 193 

Sultan, the, 104, in, 112, 127, 128, 

130 
Suvarof, 232 

" Swiss Associations," 189 
Switzerland, 187 

Taine, 21 

Tamerlane, 307 

Tangiers, 183 

Tashkent, 42, 44 

Tatiana (Tolstoy), 216 

Taunton, 101 

Tchaldja, 113 

Tchardjui, 48 

Tchekmedje, 113 

Tcherkasky, Prince, 208 

Tcherlow, 112 

Tchernaya, battle of the, 228 

Tchernigof, 231 

Telegraph, Daily, 93, 96 

Tell, William, 190 

Terek, the, 227 

Thayer, Professor, 166 

" The Cossacks," 218, 227, 251, 254, 

267 
" The Decembrists," 238, 239 
" The Incursion," 227 
" The Morning of a Proprietor," 

225 
Theocritus, 166 
Therapia, m 
The Times (Russian), 259 
Thiers, 248, 249 
Thorwaldsen, 186 
" Thousand Miles up the Nile," 

i9S 
Thrace, 115 

Thurn, Fraiilein von, 136 
Times, London, 28, 83 
Times, the, 123 
Timmins, Samuel, 131 
Tinos, 167 
Tirnova, 70, 75, 133 
Tiuchef, 208 
Tobolsk, 183 
Tolstoy, Count Leo, 21, 26, 27, 185, 

186, 207, 210, 212, 213, 216-220, 



223-225, 227-232, 235, 236, 238, 239, 

242, 244, 245, 249-267, 269, 270, 272- 

275, 278, 280-284, 285, 286, 289, 290, 

293-299 
Tophane, 123 
Toppfer, 189 
Touchard, Captain, 114 
Trandafil, 68 
Trebizond, no 
Tribune, the, 85, 121, 126, 127 
Tricoupis, 157, 159 
Tricoupis, Miss, 158, 159 
Trockurof, 235 
Troppmann, 231 
Trubetskoy, 235, 241 
Tseretelef, Prince, 64, 74, 75, 93, 

94, 116, 119, 121, 129 
Tsesarevitch, the, 34, 35 
Tuckerman, C. K., 119 
Tula, 214, 216, 263, 266, 298 
Turguenief, 20, 21, 210, 223, 229- 

231, 254, 255. 259-266, 268-273 
Turkey, 45, 46, 59, 89, 96, 104, 123, 

128, 131, 227 
Turkish fleet, 117 
Turkish Parliament, 114 
Turkistan, 54, 102 
" Turkistan," 92, 128 
Turkomans, 52 
Turks, the, 58-61, 66-68, 72, 86, 87, 

89, 93-100, 103-105, in, 113, 114. 

121, 123, 126, 127, 131, 140, 306, 

307, 310. 312. 3i3 
Tuttle, Herbert, letters to, 184, 

187 
Twiller, Rykert van, 134 

" Uarda," 195 

Undine, the, 167 

United States, y6, 261, 304, 305 

Ura Tube, 46 

Ural, the, 26 

Urgut, 46 

Urutsi, 71 

Vadian, 190 

Valnief, Count, 54 

Vandalia, the, 99, 122-124, 126-128 

Van Rensselaer, 134 

Vatel, 188 



363 



INDEX 



Venice, 179, 186, 204, 316 

Verestchagin, 273 

Viega, 69 

Vienna, 41, 85, 147, 148, 151, 171, 

173 
Vieusseux, 178 
Vincent, Sir Edgar, 140 
Vivian, Lady, 192 
Vladimir, Grand Duchess, 143 
Vladimir, Grand Duke, 26, 53 
Vladimir, the, 129 
Vlangali, General, 53 
Vogue, Vicomte de, 244 
Volga, the, 25, 42, 276, 290 
Volkonsky, 241, 242 
Volkonsky, Princess Marie, 234 
Voltaire, 189, 225 
Voronovo, 24s 
Vrefsky, Baron, 228 
Vuk Brankovitch, 307 

Wagner, 41 

Wales, Prince of, 107 

" War and Peace," 213, 218, 219, 

233. 236-239, 243, 250, 251, 264, 

267, 269, 291, 299 
Washburn, Dr., 61 
Washington, 28, 54, 55, 103, 124, 

144, 149, 152, 169, 182, 184, 197 
Waterloo, 244, 245 



Watts, Mr. and Mrs., 174 
" Wood-cutting," 228 
Woolson, Constance, 198 
Wordsworth, 178 
World, the, 30 
Wortley, Lady Mary, 180 
Wright, Arthur W., 15 

Yale College, 11, 20 

Yale University, 15, 179 

Yamboli, 71, 74, 75 

Yasenki, 214 

Yasnaya Polyana, 26, 27, 214, 216, 

219, 223, 225, 230, 262, 263, 266, 

275, 281, 283, 290, 294, 299 
Ycung, John Russell, 123 
" Youth " (Tolstoy), 228, 251, 2$~, 

237 
Yushkof, General, 290-292 
Yushkof, Madame, 215, 224, 293, 

294 
Yverdon, 189 

Zancoff, Mr., 140, 145 
Zeitung, Kblnische, 64 
Zia, Yussuf, 104, 114 
Zichy, Count, 91, 95, 100 
Zschokke, 189 
Zurich, 187-190 
Zwingli, 190 



364 
























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